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THE  THIRTY  YEARS 

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THE  THIRTY  YEARS' 
WAR     ON     SILVER 

MONEY  SCIENTIFICALLY  TREATED 
AND      LOGICALLY     PRESENTED 

By  A.  L.  FITZGERALD 

Justice     Supreme     Court    of    Nevada 


The    earth    is    wronged    by    man's    oppression." 


CHICAGO 

AINSWORTH     &°     COMPANY 

I903 


Copyright,  1903, 
By  Adolphus  L.   Fitzgerald 


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TO    EVERY    HONEST    MAN    AND    WOMAN    IN    THE 
UNITED    STATES 


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PREFATORY. 

Imagination  anticipates  the  exclamation,  "  Another 
book  on  Money!  What  can  possibly  be  its  raison 
d'etre?  "  Its  reason  for  asking  the  boon  of  existence 
is  this :  its  author,  notwithstanding  tbe  multitude  and 
magnitude  of  books,  pamphlets  and  speeches  on  money, 
believed  that  the  question  had  not  been  solved,  although 
so  profound  a  thinker  as  John  Stuart  Mill  "  thought  the 
theory  of  value  complete,  and  feared  to  say  more  lest  he 
should  leave  nothing  for  the  reader  to  do." 

Hence  three  great  motives,  rather  three  aspects  or  views 
of  one  great  motive,  impelled  the  author  to  venture  upon 
asking  attention  to  one  more.  This  motive  was  love  of 
truth, —  love  of  truth  in  science,  truth  in  humanity  and 
truth  in  patriotism,  or  love  of  one's  native  country.  The 
principle  believed  in  and  adopted  was  that  all  truth  and 
every  truth  is  good,  and  all  error  and  every  error  is  bad, 
and  that  the  great  duty  of  the  noble  of  earth  is  to  battle 
for  the  overthrow  of  the  latter  and  the  establishment  of 
the  former.  Love  of  justice,  too,  was  an  equally  animating 
principle,  for  truth  and  justice  never  yet  had  conflict  with 
each  other;  but  their  contests  have  always  been  a  joint 
one   against  error   and   injustice. 

If,  then,  this  volume  should  aid  in  the  unfolding  and 
establishment  of  truth  in  monetary  science,  truth  in 
humanity,  even  to  the  doing  of  justice  to  the  millions  of 
China  and  India  whose  money  has  been  destroyed  by  what 
to  them  is  foreign  power,  and  truth  in  patriotism  or  love 
of  his  own  country,  the  God-favored  land  of  Uncle  Sam, 
_— ^  S 


6  Prefatory 

and  honesty  and  safety  in  business, —  then  whatever  may 
be  the  magnitude  of  the  contumely  that  may  be  heaped 
upon  him  therefor,  the  author  will  always,  even  in  the 
hour  when  the  bright  beauty  of  this  fair  world  shall  be 
forever  fading  from  his  view,  rejoice  that  he  had  the 
strength  of  body  and  the  courage  of  soul  to  undertake 
the  work. 

The  "  gold  men,"  those  who  wish  money  dear  and  men 
cheap,  the  dollar  and  its  owner  powerful  and  arrogant 
and  men  weak  and  humble,  will  take  no  pleasure  in  its 
perusal.  They  who  wish  to  bring  the  world  to  such  a 
condition  in  its  finances,  industries  and  governments  that 
they  can  with  satisfaction  contemplate  the  sad  state  of 
things  when  it  may  truthfully  be  said  of  humanity  that 
by  it  venerium  in  auro  bibitur  [poison  is  drunk  from  a 
cup  of  gold],  will  turn  in  hatred  from  the  truths  herein- 
after stated.  The  Constitution-breakers, —  those  in  the 
Congress  (Senate  and  House),  and  those  too  in  other 
departments  of  the  Federal  government,  nay,  rather  and 
properly,  other  departments  of  the  Federal  public  service, 
the  silver  demonetizers  and  the  greenback  monetizers, 
—  will  be  deeply  offended  hereby.  But  though  "  the 
heathen  rage,  and  the  people  imagine  a  vain  thing,"- 
that  men  were  made  for  the  dollar,  and  not  the  dollar  for 
men, —  yet  the  truth  shall  not  be  shaken  thereby  or  the 
author's  soul  uncalmed.  The  first  will  march  steadily  on 
to  its  final  triumph  over  its  enemy,  error,  and  the  second, 
unmoved,  will  witness  the  conflict,  always  while  living 
trusting  to  that  great  heart  of  humanity  in  each  truly 
American  bosom  that  ever  throbs  in  unison  with  science, 
truth,  justice  and  fair-dealing  among  men,  those  sure  har- 
bingers and  producers  of  the  progress  of  the  race  of  man 
on  the  earth, —  that  true  progress  ordained  in  the  eternal 
counsels  of  the  All-Father  aforetime  for  all  his  children, 


Prefatory  7 

and  not  alone  for  the  powerful,  the  cunning,  the  unscru- 
pulous, the  unshackled  few. 

In  the  days  before  the  invention  of  the  equalizing 
weapon,  men  wisely,  lawfully  and  rightfully  joined  them- 
selves together  in  societies  to  protect  themselves  from 
the  physically  overstrong  who  used  their  unusual  strength 
not  to  protect,  but  to  oppress  their  weaker  fellowmcn  ; 
so  now  the  public  service  society,  composed  of  all  fair- 
minded  people,  should  join  themselves  together  for  the 
people's  protection  from  the  mentally  overstrong  who  use 
their  unusual  strength  in  finance.  Godlike  knowledge  and 
power  though  it  be,  for  the  Satanic  purpose  of  self- 
aggrandizement,  self-exaltation  and  self-glorification, 
though  marching  thereto  over  the  dead  bodies  of  thou- 
sands and  the  wrecked  happiness  of  millions,  and  not  for 
the  divine  purpose  for  which  such  great  financial  strength 
was  given  to  them,  to  wit,  to  improve  man  physically, 
mentally  and  morally ;  make  his  sojourn  here  on  earth 
happy ;  and  that  he,  taught  by  the  example  of  the  great 
and  the  powerful,  who  are  at  the  same  time  also  the  good, 
make  his  soul  holy,  fit  for  "  that  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

Especially  in  these  days,  and  even  far  more  so  than  in 
those  in  which  the  noble  old  Roman  uttered  the  words, 
may  it  be  said,  "Auri  sacra  fames!  "  [Accursed  greed  of 
gold!] 

Wisdom  and  goodness  framed  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  of  course  including  the  scientific  monetary 
system  therein  contained,  and  the  unwisdom  of  cunning 
should  no  longer  be  permitted  to  break  the  Constitution 
or  overthrow  its  wise  financial  plan.  Modern  greed  for 
gold  should  be  taught,  if  need  be,  sternly  taught, — 
though  it  is  fervently  prayed  that  the  mild  means  of 
reason  may  suffice  therefor, —  that  man  is  more  than  the 


8  Prefatory 

dollar;  that  the  well-being  of  man  is  the  object  to  be  at- 
tained, and  that  money  is  only  a  means  thereto ;  his  well- 
being  the  final  cause  and  money  one  of  the  many  and  truly 
very  great  efficient  causes  therefor. 

Likewise  will  another  thought  ever  be  a  pleasing  reflec- 
tion, should  this  book  in  any  degree  aid  in  accomplishing 
the  result  and  purpose  above  outlined.  That  thought  is 
this,  that  the. injustice  perpetrated  upon  all  those  who  had 
stored  their  years  of  labor  in  (i)  silver  coin,  (2)  silver 
bullion.  (3)  silver  mines  and  mining  machinery  and  min- 
ing buildings  and  homes  in  mining  camps,  (4)  in  learn- 
ing the  art  and  craft  of  scientific  mining,  and  (5)  in 
learning  the  art  and  craft  of  practical  mining,  when  the 
value  of  their  property  was  legislated  out  of  it  by  the 
usurped  power  of  the  Federal  Congress  of  1873  and  its 
successors, —  when  that  great  and  cruel  injustice  is  done 
away,  it  will  ever  be  a  solace  and  comfort  to  the  author 
in  his  moments  of  joy  or  sadness  to  think  that  his  little 
volume  may  in  some  small  degree  have  contributed  to  the 
happy  result. 

Twelve  long  years  of  unsuccessful  oral  effort  among 
the  politicians  local  to  Nevada,  and  over  three  years 
among  those  general  to  the  whole  United  States,  to  get 
the  views  contained  in  this  volume  embodied  in  political 
platforms  and  policies,  State  and  national,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  having  them  put  into  operation  in  the  practical 
administration  of  the  public  financial  service,  has  well 
taught  the  author  the  ever-to-be-kept-in-view  lesson 
that  — 

"  Whoever  makes  an  effort  to  be  useful  is  soon  called 
upon  to  make  a  second  effort  to  bear  the  disappointment 
of  his  want  of  success." 

Notwithstanding  such  apathy  of  the  politicians,  the 
"  Giant  Despair "   has   not  yet  altogether  throttled  him. 


Prefatory  9 

He  now  makes  appeal  from  the  adverse  judgment  against 
his  oral  efforts  before  the  politicians  through  this,  his 
printed  effort,  to  the  people  —  to  the  people,  that  august 
tribunal,  by  whose  judgment,  after  the  question  shall 
have  been  fully,  fairly  and  properly  presented  to  it,  he  is 
perfectly  willing  to  abide. 

As  an  apologetic  for  the  fact  that  quotations  from  other 
tongues  and  translations  of  them  into  English  are  given, 
it  is  stated  that  without  the  quotations,  the  meaning  in- 
tended could  not  have  been  so  well  or  clearly  expressed ; 
and  without  the  translations,  not  so  well  understood  by 
some  who  perhaps  may  read. 

The  author  cannot  refrain  from  here  expressing  his 
indebtedness  to  his  clear-headed  and  practical  friend, 
G.  McM.  Ross,  Esq.,  of  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  for  valu- 
able and  timely  suggestions  made,  aid  rendered  and  en- 
couragement given  during  the  writing  and  preparation  of 
this  book. 

A  closing  thought  it  is  hoped  may  be  permitted :  the 
book  is  an  expression,  feeble  indeed  though  it  be,  of  the 
author's  gratitude  to  the  miners  and  others  of  the  long 
hard-used  State  of  Nevada  for  their  many  years  of  kind- 
ness to  him  ;  and  now,  with  the  hope  that  it  may  be  bene- 
ficial to  them  and  to  the  toiling  millions  elsewhere  upon 
the  earth,  "  The  Thirty  Years  War  "  on  silver  is  com- 
mended to,  it  is  hoped,  a  not  unkind  public. 

A.  L.  Fitzgerald. 

Carson,  Ncv.,  August,  1903. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PART    I. 
What  is  Honey  in  the  General  Sense  of  the  Term  ? 

CHAPTER    I. 

The  Definitions  and  Concepts  of  Money  Gen- 
erally Given  by  Writers  on  Economics 33 

Topics  of  Chapter  I. — The  Definition  and  Concept  of  the 
Encyclopedia  Britannica  —  Most  Important- — Medium  of 
Exchange  —  Standard  of  Comparison  —  Money  —  Com- 
mon Denominator  or  Common  Measure  of  Value  — 
Standard  of  Deferred  Payments  —  Storing  Value  :  Those 
of  Charles  S.  Devas  —  Money  —  Currency  ■ —  Legal  Ten- 
der :  Those  of  Lyman  J.  Gage  —  Conundrum  —  How 
Money  Came  Into  Existence  —  Inconvenience  of  Barter 

—  The  Medium  of  Exchange  - —  A  Storehouse  for  Value 

—  A  Paper  Promise  —  Queer  Results  of  Shifting  Prices: 
Those  of  Prof.  J.  Laurence  Laughlin  —  Money  is  Merely 
a  "  Road,"  Not  the  Place  to  Which  the  Road  Leads : 
Those  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed  —  Money  is  a  "  Hay- 
rack " —  A  Challenge  —  Incidents  —  Confession  of  Adam 
Smith  —  A  Noble  Confession  —  Deep,  Dark,  Difficult, 
Abstract  and  Obscure  Subject. 

CHAPTER    II. 

Showing  the  Errors  of  the  Common  and  Even 
Universally  Accepted  Views 49 

Topics  of  Chapter  II. — The  Accepted  Definition  of  Money 

—  Restated    in    Compact    Form —  (1)     Medium    of    Ex- 


12  Table  of  Contents 

change;  (2)  Measure  of  Value;  (3)  Measure  or  Stan- 
dard of  Deferred  Payments  —  Criticism  of  the  Definition 

—  Mental    Confusion,   Third   Point    Included   in    Second 

—  Second  Point  False  or  Meaningless  —  Illustrations  — 
Definition   of   Definition  —  Worst   Definition    Ever   Made 

—  First  Point  False  or  Meaningless  —  Illustrations  — 
The  Three  Points  Gone  —  Not  a  Step  Made  Toward  a 
Definition  of  Money  —  Mere  Incidents  of  Money  —  A 
Pertinent    Question  —  Whence?  —  How?  —  The    Answer 

—  The  Law  —  Declaring  Some  Thing  or  Things  Tender. 

CHAPTER    III. 

The  True  Concept  and  Definition  of  Money.  ...   54 

SECTION  I. —  General   Statement. 

Topics  of  Section  I. —  Motion  Made — "The  Thirty  Years' 
War" — Royal  Metals  —  In  Europe  Down  to  1816  —  In 
the  States  Down  to  Formation  of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion—  Social  Civility — Entreaty  —  True  Definition  of 
Money  —  Tender,  Commonly  Called  "Legal  Tender" — 
Economic  Atmosphere   Clears   Up. 

SECTION  II. —  Specific  Statement. 

Topics  of  Section  II. —  Resulting  from  Tender,  Two  Attri- 
butes: (1)  Payer  of  Debts;  (2)  Discharger  of  Obliga- 
tions—Resulting from  These  Three,  Two  Characteris- 
tics: (1)  Common  Measure  of  Value;  (2)  Medium  of 
Exchange  —  Resulting  from  These  Five,  Several  Inci- 
dents:  (1)  Measure  or  Standard  of  Deferred  Payments; 
(2)  Storer  of  Value  —  The  Unit  —  The  Triad  —  The 
Pentad  —  The  Septad. 

SECTION  III. —  Attributes  of  Money,  to  Wit,  the  Paver 
of  Debts  and  Discharger  of  Obligations. 

Topics  of  Section  III. —  Meaning  of  Debt  —  Three  Ele- 
ments: (1)  Money;  (2)  Amount;  (3)  Contract  —  Pay- 
ing a  Debt  —  Tender  Pays,  and  Nothing  Else  Pays  —  Il- 
lustration,    Offers     of     Substitutes  —  Suit,     Attachment, 


Table  of  Contents  13 

Ruin  —  "  Standard  Dollar  "  and  Greenbacks  —  An- 
other Illustration,  Ten  Thousand  Dollars  at  Five  Per 
Cent  a  Month  —  The  Remedy  is  Tender,  No  Other 
Remedy  —  Duty  of  Sovereignty — Sovereignty  Monetizes, 
Citizen  Cannot  Demonetize  —  Congressional  Enactment 
That  the  Citizen  or  Foreigner  Can  Demonetize  the 
"Standard  Dollar !"— Effect  of  Tender  —  Further  Illus- 
tration —  Horses,  Other  Commodities,  Lands,  Cubic  Yard 
of  Uncoined  Gold,  National  Bank  Notes,  etc.,  etc. —  Still 
Further  Illustration  —  Thousand  Horses,  Failure  to  De- 
liver, Remedy,  Damages  in  Money,  Property  Sold  for 
Money,  This  Pays  "Debt" — Language  Contradictory  — 
Tort  —  Remedy  — "  Pays  Debt  " —  Viewed  from  Another 
Point  — "  Tender  Amends  " —  Discharges  Obligation  — 
Second  Attribute,  the  Discharger  of  Obligations — 
Reader  Congratulated  —  Commentary  on  the  History  of 
the  Times. 

SECTION  IV. —  Characteristics  of  Money:  the  Measure 
of  Value  and  the  Medium  of  Exchange. 

Topics  of  Section  IV. —  The  First  Characteristics  (a) 
Common  Denominator  of  Value — "Common  Measure  of 
Value  " —  Meaning  of  Term  —  Professor  Laughlin  —  His 
Axiom  —  His  Influence  —  Measure  and  Measured  Must 
be  of  the  Same  Kind  —  Length  by  Length,  etc. —  Gold 
Solomons  —"  Incident  as  Closed  " —  Definition  of  a  Frac- 
tion —  Numerator  and  Denominator  —  Illustrations : 
Sheep,  Hogs,  Cows,  Horses  —  Not  the  Invention  of  the 
Author — Statement  in  Proportion  —  Mathematical  Ab- 
surdity —  I-^0=ce,2-^0=05,3-^0=(>o,  1,000,000 
-f  0  =  05  —  Ergo,  1  =  1 ,000,000 !  —  Divine  Right  —  Bank- 
ers Dictating  the  Legislation  on  Money — Laws  of  the  No- 
bility, Crimes  and  Punishments  —  Class-law  Makers — 1  = 
2  !  —  1  =  3!  —  1  =  1,000,000  !  —  Climax  — "  Fiat     Money  " 

—  Sublime  Language — (b)  The  Common  Measure  of 
Value  —  An  Incident  —  Old  Pocketknife  and  Cigar  Case 

—  The  Gold  Solomon's  Money  —  Photograph  of  Knife 
— "Unstop    Ears,"    "Uncover  Eyes" — Another   Incident 

—  Benighted  West  —  Mountain  of  Prejudice,  Wall  of  Ig- 
norance—  Professor    Laughlin  —  Best    Comment  —  Hon. 


14  Table  of  Contents 


Thomas  Bracket  Reed — "Hay  Rack,"  Wagon  —  The 
Boeotia  of  America — Two  Boeotias  —  One  Large  Boeotia 
Except  —  Henry  George's  Definition  of  Money  —  Defects 
of  All  Definitions  Given  Are  Three  —  Too  General  — 
Illustration  —  In  What  Sense  Is  It  True  That  Money  Is 
the  Common  Measure  of  Value?  —  Not  in  the  "Broad" 
Sense  —  Not  in  the  "  Breezy  "  Sense  —  Chimeras  Dire  — 

—  The  Apparent  Thing  and  the  Real  Thing  —  Apparent 
Good  and  Real  Good  —  Apparent  and  Real  Measure  of 
Value  —  Illustration  —  Safe  or  Unsafe  Banking  —  De- 
posit of  Government  Bonds  —  Absolute  Necessity  of  Ten- 
der —  Strange  Proposition  —  Law  of  Contracts  is  Abol- 
ished —  Court  Could  Not  Enforce  Contract  —  No  Such 
Thing  as  Money,  or  Representative  of  Money  —  Case 
i:    Commodity  as   Measure  —  Wheat  —  Fatal   Objections 

—  Wheat  Money!  —  Illustration:  Money  Vaults,  Wheat 
Bins !  —  No  Longer  Almighty  Dollar,  but  Almighty 
Wheat !  —  Illustration  —  Case    2  :    Twelve    Commodities 

—  Jury  Selecting  Money — "Hung  Jury" — Number  1  — 
Potato  Money  —  Risings  and  Fallings  Various  —  Mathe- 
matical Experts  —  Science,  Knowledge !  —  Staple  Money 

—  Case  3 :  Plaintiff  or  Defendant  Endowed  with  Sov- 
ereignty —  Why  the  Cry  About  Measure  of  Value 
Changing?  —  Credit  Sales  —  Cash  Sales  —  No  Difference 
Between  Them  —  Barter  —  Law  and  Medicine  —  Jane  — 
Money  a  Yardstick,  etc. —  Quantitative  and  Qualitative 
Theories  — ■  Mahomet  —  One  Ten-dollar  Gold-piece  in 
the  World !  —  Like  Measures  Like  —  A  Hundred  Yards 

—  Difference  Between  Yardstick  and  Money — Four 
Points  —  Other  Differences  —  Two  Kinds  of  Yardstick 
Wood  —  Gross  Injustice  —  Other  Material  —  Crime  — 
The  Yardstick  of  72  Inches  —  The  Crushed  Man  and  His 
Family  —  Enactments  Not  Laws  —  Reservoir  —  Golden 
Thread  —  Payment  Itself  —  Credit  Not  Sufficient  — 
The  Yardsticks  Equal  All  Other  Things  —  First  Step  in 
the  World  Enslavement  —  Micropolis  and  Megalopolis  — 
Witenagemote — Nagrom  —  Apparent   Basis,   True  Basis 

—  The  General  Measure  of  Value — "The  Goose  Hawks 
High" — Mr.    Nagrom's    Health — "Heartless    Lawyers" 

—  Typical    Case  — "  Ninety-five    Per    Cent  " —  Ninety-five 


Table  of  Contents  15 


Per  Cent  Fools  !  —  World  Made  Wrong  —  Business  on 
Lottery  Basis!  —  Fiat  Money  —  Two  Great  Blunders  — 
Palace  Car  —  Special  Medium  of  Exchange — No  Uni- 
versal Medium  of  Exchange  —  Direct  Exchange,  Barter 
—  Striking  Instances  of  Mental  Confusion  and  Error  — 
Must  Take  It  Unless  He  Prefers  Not  to  —  Legal  Tender 
Not  Money!  —  Incidents  of  Money — Standard  of  De- 
ferred Payments  —  Storer  of  Value  —  The  Store  Place 
and  the  Store  —  Can  a  Valueless  Thing  Be  a  Storer  of 
Value  ?  —  Metaphorical  Use  —  Petitio  Principii  —  Igno- 
ratio  Elenchi  —  Legislating  Value  into  a  Thing  —  War 
Times  Times  of  Temporary  Prosperity  —  The  Physical 
Qualities  of  Money  Material  —  Nine  Qualities  —  The 
Monument. 


PART  II. 
What  is  Honey  in  the  United  States  of  America? 

CHAPTER    IV. 
Nature  of  the  Government 145 

SECTION    I. — The   Three   Fundamental   Forms   of  Gov- 
ernment. 

Topics  of  Section  I. — The  Convention  of  1787  —  Monarchy, 
Aristocracy,  Democracy  —  Monarchy  Absolute  ■ —  Mon- 
archy Limited  —  Aristocracy — Soon  Becomes  Kakis- 
tocracy  —  The  Great  Have  Not  Historical  Heirs- — "  Eter- 
nal Vigilance  " — ■  Oligarchy  —  Mere  Paucity  —  Political 
Superstition  —  Etymology  —  The  Bull  a  Symbol- — The 
Charge  Against  Prometheus  —  Ancestral  Boasting  — 
Democracy,  Two  Kinds  —  Democracy  Direct  —  Impos- 
sible—  Nevada  —  Original  Thirteen  States  —  Eighty  Mil- 
lions. 

SECTION  II. — Form  of  Government  of  the  United  States. 

Topics  of  Section  II. —  Democracy,  Indirect  or  Representa- 
tive—The Character  of  the  Men  of  1787  —  The  Four 
Grand    Divisions    of    the    Government  —  The    Theory  — 


1 6  Table  of  Contents 

Things  General,  Things  Local  — ■  Doctrine  Hedged  About 

—  Tenth  Amendment  —  Only  One  Source  of  Power- — 
Interpretation,  Conscience — "Reserved" — The  First 
Grand  Division  of  the  Attributes  of  Sovereignty  —  In- 
stances of  Powers  Not  Granted  —  The  Power  to  Make 
Amendments  —  National   Divorce  Law  —  Declare   Money 

—  Lame  and  Impotent  Conclusion  ■ —  The  Second  Grand 
Division  of  the  Attributes  of  Sovereignty  —  The  Three- 
fold Division  of  the  Legislative  Department  —  The 
House  of  Representatives  —  The  Present  —  The  Past  — 
Wisdom  —  Folly  —  The  Power  of  the  "  Veto  "  Power  — 
The  Title  Governor  —  Misnomer  —  Executive  —  Royal 
Governor  —  Reverse  Superstition  ■ —  Titles  of  Federal 
Officers  —  Division  and  Subdivision  of  Attributes  — 
"Haul  Down  the  Flag" — Strike  Down  the  Constitution 

—  Cui  Bono/ — "Proves  Too  Much" — Abolish  State 
Government  —  Gold     Solomon     and     Spellbinder     Logic 

—  Artemus  Ward's  Logic  —  Remarkable  Assumption  — 
Perjury  —  The   Anarchist  —  Constitution   "Played    Out" 

—  Abraham  Lincoln- — "Shall  Grass  Grow  in  the 
Streets?" — "Great  and  Solemn  Duty" — Constitution 
Binding  —  Money  is  Tender  —  Convertible  Terms. 

CHAPTER    V. 

Constitutional   Provisions  Regarding  Money...  174 

SECTION    I. — The    Clauses    Themselves. 

Topics  of  Section  I. —  Limitation  on  the  Power  of  the  State 

—  The  Borrowing  Clause  —  The  Coining  Clause. 

SECTION  II. —  A  Brief  Commentary  on  Those  Clauses. 
SUB-SECTION  I. —  Introductory. 

Topics  of  Sub-Section  I. — Thesis  —  Rule  of  Interpretation 

—  No  Express  Grant  —  No  Implied  Grant — Tender  in  the 
Colonies. 

SUB-SECTION  II.— First  Contention. 

Topics  of  Sub-Section  II. —  Limitation  on  the  Power  of  the 
States  —  Interpretation  Unique  —  Money  "Fixed"  in  the 


Table  of  Contents  17 

Constitution — Vicious   Interpretation  —  A   is  A  and   Not 
A  —  First    Illustration  —  Second     Illustration  —  C  mgres- 
sional  Jury —  The  Convention  of  17X7  —  Mr.  Randolph's 
Proposition  —  Mr.    Charles    Pinckney's    Draft   of   a    Fed- 
eral  Government  —  Gold,   Silver  or  Copper  a   Tender  — 
Gold,    Silver   or    Copper    Rejected  —  The    Committee    of 
Detail  —  Committee     Elected  —  Committee's     Report  ■ — 
Specie  a  Tender — Specie  Rejected —  The  Committee  of 
Style  —  Committee    of    Style    Report    Digest    of    Plan - 
Gold  or  Silver  Coin  a  Tender  —  Gold  or  Silver  Coin  Re- 
jected—  Gold    and     Silver    Coin     Made    the    Tender  — 
Restatement    in    Brief — Standard    Dictionary  —  Nevada 
Statute  of  1899  and  Those  of  1901  -  The  Prayer  of  the 
Saxons  —  The  Prayer  of  the  Americans! 

SUB-SECTION  IIP— Second  Contention. 

Topics  of  Sub-Section  III. — The  Money-Borrowing  Clause 

—  Question  Stated  —  Non  Sequitur — State  Has  Such 
Power  —  Corporations  Have  Such  Power  —  Each  Per- 
son Has  Such  Power  —  Quotation  from  Opinion - 
Power  to  Borrow  Money,  Power  to  Declare  Money  - 
Power  to  Sell  Whisky  —  Language  Reversed  —  Language 
Changed  —  No  Strength  Gained  from  Other  Powers  — 
Monarchy  Interpreted  In  —  Labor  in  Vain  —  Congres- 
sional and  Judicial  Will  the  Supreme  Law!  —  Making  a 
New  Constitution  —  Congressional  and  Judicial  Tyranny 
Enthroned- — Some  Comments  on  the  Decision  —  Ten 
Commandments  and  Declaration  of  Independence- — If 
Not  One,  Then  Not  All  —  No  Tendency  to  Include  — 
Treaty-making  Power  —  Incongruity  —  Congressional 
Money  and  a  "  Presidential  "-Senatorial  Money — Scho- 
lastic Puzzle  —  Modern  Puzzle  —  August  Tribunal  —  Ar- 
bitrary Power  Enthroned  ■ —  Extract  from  Mr.  Madison's 
Journal  —  Emit  Bills  of  Credit  —  Not  a  Tender  —  Power 
Exists  Not  Without  Express  Grant  —  Safe  Power, 
Notes,  Involved  in  Borrowing,  but  Not  the  Unsafe 
Power,  the  Power  of  Declaring  Them  Tender  —  Door 
Shut   Against   Paper   Money — Paper    Money    Impossible 

—  No  Paper  Money  in   Europe  —  Beast   of  Revelation - 
Stricken  Out  —  Again  No  Tender  —  9  to  2  —  A  and  Not 

2 


1 8  Table  of  Contents 

A — History  of  the  Times  —  Hundred  Years  Later  — 
Provides  Against  Counterfeiting  —  Counterfeiting  Two 
Things    Punishable:    (i)    Securities;    (2)    Current    Coin 

—  Counterfeiting  Greenbacks  Not  Punishable  —  Re- 
quired     Express      Grant   —   Making      a       Constitution 

—  Much-Needed  Lesson  —  Greenback  Factories  — 
Strictly  Construed  —  Counterfeiting  Uncurrent  Coin  — 
Counterfeiting  Foreign  Coin  —  Three-cent  Piece  —  Gold- 
dollar  Piece  —  Lurking  Anarchy  —  Accounting  for  the 
Error  —  Errors  of  the  Great  —  Inter  Alia  Two  Causes  of 
the  Error  —  Failure  of  Attorneys  —  Temper  of  the  Times 

—  Brief  of  Counsel  —  Currency  and  Tender  the  Same 
Thing  !  —  Tender  and  Evidence  !  —  Contradiction  in 
Terms  —  Unwarrantable  Assumption  —  Peace  and  War — 
The  Constitution  Adequate  to  War  —  Oath  of  Office  — 
Same  for  Peace  and  War  —  Life  of  the  Nation  — Life- 
Preserving  Powers  — Treason  —  Purse —  Sword  —  Military 
Service  —  Shame  !  —  No  Excuse  —  Preservative  Destruc- 
tion !  —  Better  Form  of  Government  —  Remedy  —  De- 
stroy to  Protect !  —  The  Greenback  During  the  Civil 
War  and  at  the  Present  Time  —  Incident  —  Logical  or 
Legal  Fallacy  Not  Shown  —  Two  Classes :  Hope  from 
the  First,  None  from  the  Second  —  Remedy :  Votes 
in  Congress  —  Reason  in  Court  —  Analysis  of  the 
Greenback  Objections  —  Mere  Sentiment  —  Serv- 
iceable Then,  Harmless  Now  —  Serviceable  Then, 
Harmful  Now  —  Harmful  Then  and  Harmful  Now  — 
Fall  of  Sixty-five  Per  Cent  —  Supplies  Purchased  — 
Prices  Raised  — Paid  "Dollar  for  Dollar  "— Made  War 
Cost  Two  to  Three  Times  More  —  Taxing  Power  — 
Greenbacks  Now  —  Reserve  —  Money  to  Redeem 
Money!  —  One  Hundred  Million  Dollars  —  The  Sec- 
retary and  the  Banks  —  Nullifies  the  Quality  of  Tender 
—  Increases  the  Apparent  Measure  of  Value,  but  Not  the 
Real  —  Interpretation  Makes  Them  Money,  Practice 
Makes  Then  Mere  Promise  —  Confusion  —  Attitude  of 
the  True  Patriot  —  Unconstitutional  —  Greenbacks  as 
Tender  Unconstitutional  —  Guilt  —  Tyranny  —  Motive 
Good  —  Motive  Bad  —  Forced  Loan  —  Money  Material 
Scarce   or    Insufficient  —  Inconsistency  —  Temper    of   the 


Table  of  Contents  19 


Times  —  Life  of  the  Nation  —  Admission  Fatal  —  As- 
sumption—  Two  Errors  in  Contest  —  War  Knded  —  The 
Blue  and  the  Gray  —  Slavery  Gone  —  The  Boxer, 
"Solar  Plexus" — President  Lincoln  — The  New  Danger 
— The  Burnt  Pig:  Wise  Man  or  Nation  —  Main  Point 
Unnoticed  —  Power  in  One  Only — "Vailed" — If  the 
Truth  Wounds  —  Time  to  Unvail  —  Three  Possible 
Places — Comparison  with  Other  Instruments — Apt 
Language  —  Compare  Similar  Language  —  True  Seat  of 
the   Power — Seat   of  Coining   Power. 

SUB-SECTION   IV.— Third   Contention. 

Topics  of  Sub-Section  IV. —  Same  Argument  —  To  Coin 
—  Who  Coined  —  To  Regulate  —  The  Ratio  —  Regulate 
Foreign  Coin  —  Silver  the  Standard  of  1792  —  Struck 
Down  by  Usurped  Power  in  1873  —  Adopting  Foreign 
Coin  —  Golden  Calf — Dagon  —  Apparent  Measure- 
No  Control  Over  Purchasing  Power  —  Counterfeiting  — 
"Better    Than    They    Knew  "■  —  Oncoming    Tide  —  The 

__  Danger  of  Poverty  —  The  Danger  of  Wealth  —  Narrow 
the  Basis  of  Money  —  Strike  Out  Half  the  Money  - 
Satis-production  —  The  Shield  of  the  Constitution  — 
Definition  of  Money  —  Representatives  of  Money  —  Sil- 
ver Not  Money — Demonetized  Money!  —  Fractional 
Silver  —  Savings  of  the  Poor  —  Illustrative  Cases  —  Too 
Small  —  Classes  Should  he  Equal  as  to  Money  —  De- 
ception — ■  Ten  Per  Cent  —  Congress  Cannot  Coin 
Tokens,  but  Money — "What  is  a  Token?"  -Thing  and 
Sign  —  Token  and  Sign  —  A  Wrong  —  A  "Legal" 
Fraud  —  Director  of  the  Mint  —  Silver  Dollar  Not  a 
Tender  —  Crushing?  —  Tender  Unless  Otherwise  Ex- 
pressed in  the  Contract  —  Tender  Declined!  —  Strange 
Error — "Uncover  Ears  "■- Millionaire  and  Orator  (?) 
— "  Campaign  Text-books  " —  Dictation  of  Creditor  - 
Creditor  Endowed  with  the  Highest  Attribute  of  Sov- 
ereignty!—  Debtor  Legislated  into  Slavery — "Legal 
Tender"  "with  a  String  to  It" — Sinning  with  a  Cart 
Rope  —  Legislative  Trap  —  Large  Contracts  Payable  in 
the  True  Tender  —  The  Small  Contracts  Payable  in  Ten 
der   with   a   "Cart   Rope" — Discrimination    Against    the 


20  Table  of  Contents 

Poor  —  Trap  for  the  Unwary  —  Government  by  the  Dol- 
lar: Plutocracy — Charge  Against  Silver  Men:  Inconsist- 
ency —  Confession  —  Yielding  to  Compulsion  —  No  Con- 
fession, but  a  Protest  —  Tricky  Argument  —  Zero  —  Ap- 
palling Misstatement — No  Silver  Money,  All  Token  — 
Battle  of  Truth  and  Error  —  Plausible  Error  and  Un- 
palatable Truth  —  Even  Battling  for  Truth  is  More  In- 
spiring —  Right  and  Might  —  Wise  Prayer  —  Coinage 
Power  in  Congress  —  The  Two  Clauses  Fixing  Money 
—  Question  Stated  —  Question  Answered  —  No  Over- 
sight —  Status  of  Foreign  Coins  Now  —  An  Incident  — 
Vagueness  Illustrated — "Coin  Paper" — Might  End  Dis- 
cussion. 


PART  III. 
Views  Supplementary,  Corroborative  and  General. 

CHAPTER    VI. 
Anticipatory  Objection 241 

Topics  of  Chapter  VI. —  Anticipatory  Objection  —  Con- 
temporaneous Interpretation  —  Statute  of  1792  —  Force 
of  the  Maxim  in  General  —  Minimum  Here  —  Never 
Conclusive  —  Income  Tax  Case  —  No  Contemporaneous 
Interpretation  —  No  Usurpation  in  1792  —  Mere  Induce- 
ment —  Supposititious  Case  —  Functions  of  Courts  — 
Testable  Since  1873  Only  —  Protesting  Submission  — 
Yardstick,  etc. —  Tender  Makes  Value  —  A  Valueless 
Thing  —  Additional   Value  —  Law   the   Source  of   Power 

—  Three  Per  Cent  —  Fifty  Cents  Silver  Legislated  into 
One-hundred-cent  Dollar  —  Money  the  Real,  Represen- 
tatives the  Apparent,  Measure  of  Value- — The  Source  of 
Mischief  —  Common  Mass  —  Shrewd  Financiers  —  Sons 
and  Daughters  of  Toil  —  Duty  of  Government. 

CHAPTER    VII. 
Authority  of  Great  Names 247 

Topics  of  Chapter  VII. —  The  Framers  of  the  Constitution 

—  Thomas  Jefferson  —  His  Denial  —  Made  no  Argument 


Table  of  Contents  21 

—  Iliad  of  Woes  —  Daniel  Webster  —  The  Great  Ex- 
pounder of  the  Constitution  —  James  G.  Blaine — What 
Defeated  James  G.  Blaine  for  the  "  Presidency"  in  [884? 
— "Rum,  Romanism  and  Rebellion"  -Too  Trivial - 
"The  Speech  of  James  G.  Blaine  in  the  Senate  in  1S7S" 
Congress  Has  No  Power  Over  Tender — Weighty 
Dictum  —  Congress  Has  Power  to  Coin  and  Regulate  — 

—  Plumed  Knight  —  Political  Death  —  John  Randolph 
Tucker  —  Important  Provision  —  Medium  in  Payment  of 
Debts  —  Coins  Struck  by  Congress  —  No  Hint  of  Power 

—  Regulation  of  the  Relation  of  Debtor  and  Creditor  — 
Unwarrantable  Perversion  —  Congress  the  Instrument  — 
Solution  of  Debts  Between  Man  and  Man. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

he  Practical  Result  of  This,  the  Scientific 
and  Constitutional  View  of  the  Money 
Question    253 

SECTION   I. —  General  Statement. 

Topics  of  Section  I. —  First,  to  Restore  Silver  —  Second,  to 
Remove  "  Scarecrow  "  -  Patriots  —  "  Free  Coinage" 
Workmanship  Main  Thing  —  No  Danger — Foreign 
Coin  —  Paying  Power  Scarce  To-day  —  Feudal  Tenure, 
Chattel  Slavery  —  Control  Labor  and  the  Products  of 
Labor  —  Obey  the  Constitution  —  Money,  Suitable  in 
Kind  and  Adequate  in  Amount  —  Replacing  Greenbacks 
with  Silver  Coin. 

SECTION  II. —  Specific  Statement. 

Topics  of  Section  II. —  Gold  as  Money  in  Small  Transac- 
tions—  Three  Hundred  and  Fifty  Millions  of  Green- 
backs —  Three  Reasons  —  Money  Not  Tokens  —  Not 
Gold  Enough  —  Gold  Cannot  be  Coined  in  Pieces  Small 
Enough  —  Gold  Dollar-piece  —  Too  Small  —  Section  of 
Green  Pea  —  Gold  Midgets  —  Silver  and  Gold  Created 
for  Money  —  Paper  Falls  in  Value  —  Dishonest  Declar- 
ing—  Honest    Borrowing. 


22  Table  of  Contents 

CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Insufficiency  of  the  Supply  of  Gold  in  the 
United  States  and  in  the  World 259 

Topics  of  Chafer  7X— Per  Capita  Not  $28,  Only  $10.70 

—  Statement  in  Detail  —  Panic,  Cataclysm,  etc. — "End- 
less Chain "—  Per  Capita  in  the  World  Not  $5,  Only 
$1.60  —  Sane  Thinking  and  Sane  Speaking  —  Fair 
Showing  Only  Eighty  (80)  Cents — "Face  of  a  Dog," 
"  Heart  of  a  Stag." 

CHAPTER    X. 
An  Ethical  Question 262 

SECTION  I. — When  the  Money  of  a  Country  Cannot  Be 
Changed  Without  the  Commission  of  a  Moral  Wrong. 

Topics  of  Section  I. —  Paper  Money  Ethically  Considered  — 
Measure  of  Value  and  Storer  of  Value  Each  Has  Value 
in  Itself — Yardstick  and  Payment  —  Storing  Place  and 
Thing  Stored  —  Labor  Stored  in  Lands  and  Houses  — 
Labor  Stored  in  Personal  Property  —  Labor  Stored  in 
Money  —  Government  Owes  Protection,  Citizen  or  Resi- 
dent Owes  Obedience- — legislating  Value  Out  of  Lands 

—  Legislating  Value  out  of  Personal  Property  — 
Legislating  Value  Out  of  Money  —  Rob  for  Its  Own 
Benefit  —  Rob  for  the  Benefit  of  Others  —  Strike  Out  All 
Metallic  Money  —  The  Moral  Quality  of  the  Action  — 
One-half:  Moral  Quality  the  Same  —  Old  Money  and 
New  Money  —  Government  May  Increase  Money  With- 
out Moral  Wrong  —  More  Money  Needed  —  Right  to 
Supply  It  —  Constitutional  Provision  —  Inadequate 
Supply  Makes  Money  Dear — Supplying  Deficiency  No 
Moral  Wrong  —  Unjust  Prosperity  —  Comparison  with 
Wheat  —  Wheat  Famine  —  Money  Famine  —  Legis- 
lating Wheat  Down  Without  Necessity  Therefor  — 
Wicked  —  Moral  Wrong  of  Government  to  Silver 
Owner,  Not  to  Silver  Itself !  —  No  Surplus  of  Money  ■ — 
Never  Too  Much  —  Whole  Burden  Thrown  on  Silver 
Owners  —  Gold    Kings  — "  Silver    Kings  " —  Silly    Instru- 


Table  of  Contents  23 


ment  of  the  Unholy  War  —  An  Incident:  A  Spell- 
hinder  on  the  Comstock  Lode  —  Exulting  Mockery  — 
Silver  Dead,  Dead,  Dead!  —  Nevada  a  Silver  State —  Pa- 
triotism Forbids — "Protection   to  American   Industries" 

—  Patriotism  Cannot  Prefer  Greenbacks  to  Silver  — 
Product   of   Our   Own    Country — Patriotism   and    Greed 

—  If    Not    Needed   as    Tender,    Greenbacks    Hurt    Silver 

—  Mischievous       Sentiment  —  Withal       Unconstitutional 

—  English  Form  of  Government  —  American  Form  of 
Government  —  Guard  Liberty  —  Taste  of  Arbitrary 
Power  —  Principiis  Obsta — Sagacious  Englishman  — 
Man  in  a   Silver-producing  State — Manufacturing  State 

—  Not  Fair  Play — -Supply  and  Demand  —  Applies  to 
Money  —  Strange   Contradiction  —  Wisely   Provided   For 

—  Gold  for  Large,  Silver  for  Small  Transactions  —  No 
"String  Tender" — Efficient  Remedy  —  Gold  Unsuited 
for  Small  Transactions  —  Silver  Somewhat  Unsuited  for 
Large  Transactions  —  A  Much-used  Argument  (?)  — 
Silver  Bulky — "Cart  Loads  of  Silver,"  Train  Loads  of 
Gold  —  Bank  Checks,  Notes,  Drafts,  Bills  —  Imaginary 
Fear  —  Same  Choice  Then  as  Now  —  The  Ladies  —  If 
Power  Exists,  no  Moral  Right  to  Change  —  The  Whole 
People  Cannot. 

SECTION  II. — How  a  Country  Could  Adopt  Money  With- 
out Committing  Moral  Wrong. 

Topics  of  Section  II. —  A  Country  Could,  Without  Moral 
Wrong,  Adopt  But  Not  Change  Money  —  Crusoe  Island 

—  Two  Ways  —  First  by  Law  Choosing  Some  Valuable 
Thing  or  Things  as  Money  —  Three  Ways  —  Seignior- 
age—  Private  Owner  Puts  Coin  (Money)  in  Circulation 

—  Taxing  —  Government  Puts  Coin  in  Circulation  — 
When  Coining  Should  Begin  and  Cease  —  Law  Con- 
trols Entirely  —  No  Money  but  Fiat  Money  —  Change 
Pro  .Bono  Publico  —  Royal  Metals  Belong  to  the  Crown, 
or  People  —  Government  Again  Puts  Money  in  Circula- 
tion —  Once  Coined  and  Put  in  Circulation  Becomes 
Private    Property  —  Tautology  —  Worthy    of    Protection 

—  Valueless  Thing  —  Paper  —  Tender — Value,  Immense 
Value  —  Become  the  Most  Valuable  Thing  —  Gold  Coin 


24  Table  of  Contents 

the  Most  Valuable  Thing  in  the  United  States  —  Gold 
Solomonic  Nonsense  —  Spellbinder  Twaddle  —  Legis- 
lated Value  —  This  Paper  Money  Like  Public  Coinage 
Mentioned  —  How  Government  Can  Get  Back  Money  — 
Taxing  — "  Flooding  "  the  Country  with  Money  — "  Old 
Issue,"  "New  Issue" — Evils  of  —  Cowardly  and  Unjust 

—  Money  a  Creature  of  the  Law  —  Silly  Cry — "Per- 
petual   Motion  " — "  Sun    Do    Move." 

CHAPTER    XI. 
The  Currency 281 

SECTION  I. —  General  Remarks. 

Topics  of  Section  I. —  Regulating  the  "  Currency  " —  Pres- 
ent Currency  Law  Unscientific,  Unconstitutional,  Clumsy 
and  Unjust  —  Its  Author,  Salmon  P.  Chase;  His  Admis- 
sion —  As  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  —  As  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  —  Conceived  in  Illegality  —  Its  Advocates 
Constantly  Tinkering  at  It  —  Great  Resources  May  Fail 
Some   Day,   Then   Calamities. 

SECTION  II. —  Debasing    the    Money. 

Topics  of  Section  II. — Words  Show  Crudeness  and  Mis- 
understanding—  How  Money  Could  be  Debased  —  De- 
basing Money,  Two  Ways  —  Gold  Dollars  12.5  Grains  —  A 
Cheat  — A  Meaner  Cheat  —  More  or  Less— The  Method 
of  Tyrants  —  President  Roosevelt's  View  of  Money  — 
Interest  Rates  —  Elasticity  —  Banks  Should  Furnish 
Circulation  —  Growth  of  a  Century — "  Instrumentalities  " 

—  Interchangeable  Money!  —  Vague  Language  —  The 
Usual  Fallacious  Views  —  Elasticity,  Uses  of  —  The  Con- 
gress has  no  Power  Over  "  Interest  Rates " —  Makes 
the  Congress  Abdicate  —  Not  Safe  Power  for  Banks  — 
A  Governmental,  Not  a  Corporate,  Power  —  Interest  of 
Banks  —  Interest  of  Banks  Antagonistic  to  the  Public 
Interests  —  Historical  Error — Tinker  and  Tinker  and 
Tinker  —  Economic  Errors  —  Too  General  — "  Instru- 
mentalities " — Legitimate  Power  —  Usurped  Power  — 
How  Many  Kinds  of  Money?  —  Parity  —  Criminal 
Offense. 


Table  of  Contents  25 

SECTION  III. —  Inflating  the  Currency 

Topics  of  Section  III. —  Mr.  Nagrom  —  Increasing  Differ- 
ence Between  Real  and  Apparent  .Measure  of  Value  —  In- 
flation of  Currency  —  Contraction  of  Money  —  No  De 
basement,  but  Righting  a  Wrong — No  Inflation  of 
the  Currency  —  Setting  a  Broken  Leg  —  Charge  Surgeon 
Instead  of  Breaker — "The  Poor  Orphan"  Illustrative 
Incident  —  Hard  Times  for  Two  Years  —  Ages  upon 
Ages  —  March  in  Procession  before  Election;  Out  of 
Premises  After  —  The  Difference  Between  Money  and 
Currency  —  "  Comprehension  "  ■ —  "  Extension  "  —  Ex- 
tension of  Money  is  I  —  Extension  of  Currency  is  7  — 
Confusing  and  Darkening  Treatment —  The  Evils  of  the 
Present  System  —  Seven-headed  Monster  —  Adding 
Heads  —  Fractional-silver  Head  —  Silver-dollar  Head  — 
"Cable  Tow,"  "Cart  Rope  "■- Gold-certificate  Head  — 
Warehouse  Receipt  —  Treasury-certificate  Head  —  Clear- 
ing House  Clerks  —  National  Bank  Notes  Head,  Tender 
to  Itself  —  Greenback  Head,  Sometimes  On  and  Some- 
times Off  — Little  Nickel  (Plate)  Llead  —  At  Each  Agi- 
tation a  Head  Given  —  Difference  Between  Real  and  Ap- 
parent Measure  Widened — "Executive-certificate"  Head 
— ''Congressional-certificate"  Head — "Supreme  Court 
Certificate  "  Head  —  $500  Per  Capita  —  Safe  Banking 
Laws. 

CHAPTER    XII. 

The  Battle  That  Should  Have  Been  Fought  — 
The  Suit  That  Should  Have  Been   Brought 

—  Can  the  Lesson  Even  Now  Be  Taught ?- 
Can  the  Remedy  Even  Now  Be  Wrought?.  .  .299 

SECTION    I.— The    Battle    That    Should    Have    Been 
Fought. 

Topics  of  Section  I. — The  Speech  That   Was   Never  Made 

—  Five-minute  Speech  —  From  1878  to  1896 — No  Com- 
promise—  The  Provisions  and  Their  History  —  Oath  of 
Office—"  Cloak   Room  "— "  Idiot    Get    Through  "—  from 


26  Table  of  Contents 

Constitutional  Government  to  Congressional  Tyranny  — 
As  It  Is,  Not  As  It  Is  Wanted  —  Interpreting  in  and  In- 
terpreting out  —  The  People  Can  See  This  —  Remem- 
brance —  History  —  The  Bad  Like  Good  Names  —  Good 
Names  a  Stimulus,  Bad  a  Deterrent  —  From  1896  to  1900 

—  In  the  Light  —  Democratic  President  in  1884  —  Demo- 
cratic Party  Rids  Itself  of  Its  Gold  Leaders  —  The  Five 
Strong   Points   Yielded  —  Erroneous   Concept   of   Money 

—  Constitutionality  of  Silver  Demonetization  —  Uncon- 
stitutionality of  Greenback  Monetization  —  Effect  on 
Silver — Plain  Words  —  Full  "Legal  Tender"  of  Six 
Hundred  Million  Silver  Dollars  Admitted — "Legal 
Tender  "  of  Fifty  Millions  of  Fractional  Silver  Admitted 

—  Grant  and  Lee  — $28.00  Per  Capita— "  Still  Not 
Enough  "  is  for  Argument  —  Truth  Shown,  Position  is 
Won  —  The  Admissions  "  Flood "  the  Country  with 
Money  —  Truth  Shows  no  Danger  —  Silver  Fell  from 
Legislation,  and  Legislation  Could  and  Should  Raise 
It  —  With  Admission,  Plausible;  with  Truth,  Fal- 
lacy Apparent  —  World's  Opinion  —  England  in  1816  — 
Germany  in  1871  —  United  States  in  1873  —  Three  Per 
Cent  —  The  United  States  Demonetized  Silver,  the 
United  States  Can  Remonetize  It  —  $1.29 — Not  One  Dol- 
lar Per  Capita  —  In  the  "  Year  of  Prosperity  " —  Strike 
Out  Shams  —  Name  It  "  Currency,"  Not  Money  —  No 
False  Colors  —  Director  of  the  Mint  —  Statisticians  — 
Honest  and  Fair  Treatment  of  All  —  What  Defeated 
Harrison  in  1892  ?  —  Republican  Convention  —  Demo- 
cratic Convention  —  The  Two  Candidates  —  The  An- 
swer— -Gold  Men  Secure  for  Four  Years  —  Must  Look 
Ahead  —  Harrison's  Election  Would  Have  Consolidated 
the  Democracy  —  Ablest,  Strongest  Man  —  Dividing  the 
South  —  Throwing  Off  the  Mask  — Mr.  Carlisle  — 
Wanted  in  the  West:  Is  It  Too  Late?  —  Reputation  — 
Further  as  to  the  Battle  That  Should  Have  Been  Fought 

—  Challenge  of  Dominant  Party's  Nominee  —  Accept- 
ance and  Answer  of  Minority  Party's  Nominee  —  Too 
Long    in    Coming  —  Condemns    Its    Greatest    Leaders  — 

—  No  Condemnation  of  True  Democracy  —  The  Causes 
of  the  Prosperity  of  1899  and  After —  (1)  Time  for  Re- 
action—  Long  Period  of  Depression  —  Resources  of  the 


Table  of  Contents  27 

Country  — Can  Stand  Much  — Crisis  of  1893:  What 
Caused  It  —  Monetary  Conference  at  Brussels  in  1892- 
Baron  Rothschild's  Proposition — Its  Rejection  —  His 
Prediction  —  The  Dominant  Party  Make  the  Tariff  Policy 
the  Excuse  —  The  Special  Session  of  Congress  —  Repeal 
of  Purchasing  Clause  of  "Sherman  Law" — Then  and 
Now  —  Postmaster-General  Payne  — "  So  Fatuous  "■ 
Purchasing  Clause  of  Tariff — "Not  Dead,  but  Sleep- 
eth  " —  A  Giant  Ready  for  Battle  —  Famine  in  India  and 
Other  Countries  —  Prosperity  from  Famine  —  Pious 
Southern  Lady  —  Gold  Solomon's  Prayer  for  Prosper- 
ity —  Murderer's  Obliterated  Tracks  —  Money  Borrowed 
—  Times  Good  —  Money  to  be  Paid,  Times  Bad  — "  Uncle 
Sam's"  Estate  —  Post  Hoc  Ergo  Propter  Hoc  —  Argu- 
mentum  ad  Simplicem  —  Illustrations  —  Death  of  Good 
Men  and  Women. 

SECTION    II.— The     Suit     That    Should     Have     Been 
Brought. 

Topics  of  Section  II. —  Not  Mandamus  —  Must  be  Law  for 
Mandamus  —  The  People's  Mandate  to  the  Congress  — 
True  Remedy — Action  of  Debt — Presenting  the  Strength 
of  the  Case. 

SECTION  III. —  Can  the  Lesson  Even  Now  Be  Taught? 

Topics  of  Section  III. —  Fifteen  Years  Behind  the  Times  — 
Statute  of  Limitations  Runs  Not  in  Fifteen  Years  - 
God's  Prosecuting  Officers  —  Lost  Battles  —  Lost  Faith 
■ — If  .Only  Stepping-stone,  Deserve  Defeat  —  Devotees 
Never  Surrender — -Mercenaries  May  —  Their  Pay  — 
Death,  Temporary  ;   Resurrection   Glorious  —  Laus  Deo. 

SECTION  IV.— Can  the  Remedy  Even  Now  Be  Wrought? 

Topics  of  Section  IV. — The  Spirit  of  1776  —  Why  the 
Threefold  Battle?  — Too  Astute  —  Let  the  People 
Understand  —  Suitable  Remembrance  —  Admitting  the 
Case  Away  —  Before  All  Three  Tribunals  —  The  Two 
Rolls  —  Micropolis  —  Megalopolis  —  Constitution  in  a 
Washington  Museum. 


28  Table  of  Contents 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Should  the  Whole  People  of  the  United  States 
Ever  Surrender  or  Grant  Away  from  Them- 
selves to  the  General  Government,  or  Any 
Branch  of  the  General  Government,  or  to 
Any  Other  Body,  Tribunal  or  Power,  Their 
Power  to  Declare  Tender,  Their  Power  to 
Say  What  Shall  Be  the  Money  of  the  United 
States 326 

Topics  of  Chapter  XIII. —  No,  a  Thousand  Times,  No!  — 
Most  Tremendous  Power  —  Supposititious  Case  —  Labor 
Stored  in  Old  Money  —  Robbery  —  New  Jeremiad  — 
Manufactories  of  Public  Sentiment  —  Opprobrious  Epi- 
thets—  Silver  Lunatics  —  Gold  Lunatics  —  The  Party 
of  Paper  Money  —  Rage  of  the  Gold  Solomons  —  New 
Love  —  Wise  People  - —  Legislation,  State  and  National  — 
Spirit  of  Tyranny  —  Acts  of  Corporate  Bodies  —  A 
Dreadful  Example  —  An  Act  in  the  Dark  —  Secret  Poi- 
son —  Deception  —  Fatal  Admission  —  Cannot  be  Trusted 
—  The  Lawful  and  Proper  Way  to  Change. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

The  Parity 331 

Topics  of  Chapter  XII'. —  First  Answer:  Silver  Not  De- 
monetized !  —  Second  Answer :  Stamp  of  the  Govern- 
ment—  A  Commemorative  Medal,  Money  —  The  How  — 
The  True  Reason  —  Check  Received  —  Check  Refused  — 
Check  for  $100  —  Check  for  $1,000 — Diamonds.  Check 
for  $1,000,000  — That  Which  Will  Not  Pay  Debts  Will 
Not  be  Taken  in  Payment  of  Debts  —  The  Poor,  the  Un- 
wary and  the  Uninformed  —  Soon  No  One  Would  Take 
the  Silver  Dollars  —  The  Whole  Matter  —  Greenbacks  — 
Redeeming  Money  with  Money  !  —  Redeeming  a  Twenty- 
dollar  Gold-piece  with  a  Twenty-dollar  Gold-piece !  — 
Redeeming  the  Redeemer  !  —  Parity  is  Equality  —  Shades 
of  the  Untruthful  —  One  Price,  Not  a  Silver  Price  and  a 
Gold   Price  —  Shipments   of   Silver    Coin   and    Bullion  — 


Table  of  Contents  29 

Shipments  of  Gold  Coin  —  Little,  if  Any,  Harm  — Scar- 
city of  Any  Article  Causes  Importations  of  It  —  Nations, 
as  Men,  Dependent  —  Teaches  Humanity  —  Variation  of 
the  Ratio  Small  —  Exact  Parity  —  Exact  Timepieces - 
Only  Approach  to  Perfection  —  Staleness  —  God  !  —  Gold 
Solomon  Abolishes  Himself — From  Abraham  and  Homer 
to  Industrial  Conspirators  —  Silver  Can  be  Used  in 
Large  Transactions,  Gold  Not  in  Small  —  Disturbed 
Parity  Rule  —  Gold  Should  Have  Been  Demonetized  — 
Scientific  Money  —  The   Gresham   Law  —  Henry   George 

—  Deeper  Law  —  Broader  Generalization  —  Temporary 
Disturbance  —  Wheat  and  Maize  —  Gold  and  Silver  — 
Mutual  Check  and  Balance — No  Harm  —  Disparity  and 
Scarcity  —  Demonetization  Produced  Disparity;  Remon- 
etization  Will  Produce  Parity  —  Moral  Murder  — Obey 
Constitution,  and  No  Fear  —  A  Political  Platform;  Per- 
version of  It  — "  Why  Did  Colorado  and  Nevada  Take  to 
the  Woods?"— Silver  Platform,  Gold  Man  on  It  — Sil- 
ver Overvalued;  Gold  Overvalued  —  Ratio,  15V2  to  1- 
Ratio  16  to  1  —  Not  True  —  Silver  Monometallism;  Gold 
Monometallism  —  Silver  "  Rawhead  and  Bloody  Bones" 

—  Conspiracy  of  Greed  —  French  Indemnity  —  Six  Hun- 
dred Million  Dollars  in  Gold  Coin  —  Germany  in  Finan- 
cial Straits  —  Bank  of  England  Notes  Tender  —  Eng- 
land's Admission  —  England's  Reason  —  Bank  of  Eng- 
land Notes  Money  —  No  Intrinsic  Value  —  Money 
Made  of  a  Valueless  Thing  —  England's  Policy  —  Amer- 
ica's  Policy. 

CHAPTER    XV. 
Gold  for  Shipment  to  Foreign  Countries 348 

Topics  of  Chaffer  XV. —  Some  Repetition  —  The  Gold  Sol- 
omon's Gibraltar  —  After  his  Desertion  —  As  Good 
Money  as  Any  in  the  World  —  Character  of  the  Deserter 

—  Motive     for     Change  —  Proper     Feeling  —  Reputation 

—  Principle  —  The  Question  —  The  Answer:  Your  Com- 
modities Would  Pay  Just  as  They  do  Now  —  Cargo  Buys 
Coins  —  Cannot  be  All  Buying  and  No  Selling  —  Trav- 
elers— With  Something  to  Sell  No  Difficulty  —  Then  as 


30  Table  of  Contents 

Now  —  Uniformity  in  Coin  —  Uniformity  in  Weights  and 
Measures  —  Bad   Example. 

CHAPTER    XVI. 
Conclusion   353 

Topics  of  Chapter  XVI. —  Restoring  Silver  —  The  Consti- 
tution — "  Written  Constitution  " —  Liberty  and  Tyranny 
■ —  Contracts  Among  Men  —  Constitution  in  Government 
—  Sad  Day  ■ —  Days  of  Gladness. 


PART   I. 

What  is  Money  in  the  General   Sense 
of  the   Term? 


31 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  Definition  and  Concept  of    Money    Generally 
Given  by  Writers  on  Economics. 

The   Concept   of   Money   entertained   by    writers   on 
Economics  generally,  and  embodied  in  their  defini- 
tions, is  so  remarkable  for  errors,  vagueness  and 
confusion  that  a  number  will  be  quoted  here. 

The  Definition  and  Concept  of  the  Encyclopedia 
Britannica. — "  The  functions  which  money  discharges 
in  the  social  organism  are  —  at  least  in  the  opinion  of 
all  writers  worth  noticing  here  —  clearly  manifest.  The 
most  important  is  that  of  facilitating  exchanges.  It  is  Most 
not  necessary  to  dwell  on  the  great  importance  of  this 
office.  The  mere  consideration  of  industrial  organization 
shows  that  it  is  based  on  the  division  of  employments ; 
but  the  earliest  economic  writers  saw  clearly  that  division 
of  employment  was  rendered  possible  only  by  the  use  of 
a  medium  of  exchange.  They  saw  that  the  result  of  Medium  of 
increasing  specialization  of  labor  was  to  bring  about  a 
state  of  things  in  which  each  individual  produced  little 
or  nothing  directly  adapted  to  satisfy  his  own  wants,  and 
that  each  one  was  to  live  by  exchanging  his  products  for 
those  of  others.  They  saw,  moreover,  that  this  was  not 
feasible  without  some  object  which  all  would  be  willing 
to  accept  for  their  peculiar  products,  for  otherwise,  the 
difficulty  of  getting  those  together  whose  wants  were 
reciprocal  would  be  a  complete  hindrance  to  the  develop- 
ment of  exchange,  which  alone  made  division  of  labor 
3  33 


34 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Standard 
of    com- 
parison. 


Money. 


Common 
denomi- 
nator or 
common 
measure 
value. 


of 


possible.  A  second  function,  hardly  inferior  in  impor- 
tance to  the  one  just  mentioned,  is  that  of  affording  a 
ready  means  of  estimating  the  comparative  value  of  dif- 
ferent commodities.  Without  some  common  commodity 
as  a  standard  of  comparison  this  would  be  almost  impos- 
sible. '  If  a  tailor  had  only  coats,  and  wanted  to  buy 
bread  or  a  horse,  it  would  be  very  troublesome  to  ascer- 
tain how  much  bread  he  ought  to  obtain  for  a  coat,  or 
how  many  coats  he  should  give  for  a  horse ; '  and  as  the 
number  of  commodities  to  be  dealt  with  increased,  the 
problem  would  become  harder,  '  for  each  commodity 
would  have  to  be  quoted  in  terms  of  every  other  com- 
modity.' Indeed  it  may  be  reasonably  maintained  that 
the  idea  of  general  value  could  not  be  formed  without  the 
existence  of  money,  and  all  that  is  known  of  savage  races 
tends  to  bear  out  this  view.  The  adoption  of  some  one 
commodity  renders  the  comparison  of  values  easy.  '  The 
chosen  commodity  becomes  a  common  denominator  or 
common  measure  of  value  in  terms  of  which  we  estimate 
the  value  of  all  other  goods,'  and  thus  money,  which  in 
its  primary  function  renders  exchanges  possible  by  acting 
as  an  intermediate  term  in  each  exchange,  also  makes 
exchanges  easier  by  making  them  definite.  Another  func- 
tion of  money  comes  into  being  with  the  progress  of 
society.  One  of  the  most  distinctive  features  of  advanc- 
ing civilization  is  the  increasing  tendency  of  people  to 
trust  each  other.  Thus  there  is  a  continual  increase  in 
relations  of  contract,  as  may  be  seen  by  examining  the 
development  of  any  legal  system.  Now  a  contract  implies 
something  to  be  done  in  the  future,  and  for  estimating 
the  value  of  that  future  act  a  standard  is  required ;  and 
here  money,  which  already  acts  as  a  medium  of  exchange 
and  as  a  measure  of  value  at  a  given  time,  performs  a 
third   function,   by   affording  an   approximate   means   of 


What  is  Money?  35 

estimating  the  present  value  of  the  future  act,  and  in  this 
respect  may  be  regarded  as  a  standard  of  value,  or,  if  the  standard  of 
phrase  be  preferred,  of  deferred  payments.  Some  writers  payments. 
attribute  a  fourth  function  to  money,  inasmuch  as  they 
regard  it  as  being  a  means  of  easily  storing  up  value,  storing 
Doubtless  it  does  supply  this  need,  which  is  a  specially 
pressing  one  in  early  civilization,  owing  to  the  insecurity 
which  then  exists,  but  with  the  progress  of  settled  govern- 
ment the  need  becomes  less  extreme.  Other  forms  of  in- 
vestment grow  up,  and  the  habit  of  hoarding  money 
becomes  unusual.  It  is  therefore  better  to  regard  the 
functions  of  money  as  being  only  three  in  number,  viz., 
to  furnish  (1)  the  common  medium  by  which  exchanges 
are  rendered  possible,  (2)  the  common  measure  by  which 
the  comparative  values  of  those  exchanges  are  estimated, 
and  (3)  the  standard  by  which  future  obligations  are 
determined." — Ency.  Brit.,  Vol.  XVI,  pages  746  and  747. 

The  Definition  and  Concept  of  Charles  S.  Devas. 
— "Definitions  of  Money,  Currency  and  Legal  Tender. — 
If  what  has  been  said  on  a  medium  of  exchange  and  a 
measure  of  value  is  clear,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  construct 
a  clear  definition  of  money,  and  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  terms  currency  and  legal  tender. 

"  Money    is    an   exchangeable    good    which    is   both    a  Money. 
medium  of  exchange  and  a  measure  of  value. 

"  Currency  is  any  medium  of  exchange  which  is  cur-  currency, 
rent  in  a  certain  region ;  that  is  to  say,  which  freely  cir- 
culates there  —  which  as  a  rule  every  one  there  will  take 
in   exchange. 

"  Legal  tender  is  any  medium  of  exchange  which  every  Legal 
one  must  by  law  take  in  exchange,  unless  he  has   pre- 
viously made  a  special  arrangement  to  the  contrary  with 
the  other  party  to  any   contract." —  Charles  S.   Devas's 
Political  Economy,  pages  312  and  313. 


36  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

The  following  article,  though  written  for  young  peo- 
ple, must,  as  coming  from  a  gentleman  of  the  eminence 
and  standing  of  ex-Secretary  Gage,  be  presumed  to  em- 
body his  real  views.  For  such  a  man  would  not  desire  to 
sow  error  in  the  youthful  mind  of  the  country,  to  bring  a 
harvest  of  woe  in  the  future.  Besides,  his  views  are 
essentially  the  same  as  those  of  accredited  economists 
generally. 

The  Definition  and  Concept  of  Lyman  J.  Gage. — 
"What  is  Money ?  " —  Possibly  it  is  not  a  fair  conundrum. 
Questions  which  come  properly  under  that  appellation 
have  a  misleading  quality  in  their  terms  of  statement  with 
a  great  simplicity  revealed  when  the  answer  is  forthcom- 
ing. The  prime  need  of  a  good  conundrum  is  that  its 
answer  shall  be  obvious  when  the  veiled  terms  of  the 
question  shall  be  drawn  aside. 

"  There  is  at  least  a  marked  difference  between  the 
question,  What  is  money  ?  and  the  ordinary  guessing  rival- 
ries which  arise  when  conundrums  are  put  forth.  When 
the  right  answer  to  the  conundrum  is  reached,  the  peculiar 
relation  of  answer  to  question  excites  a  laugh,  while  ques- 
tion and  answer,  having  no  real  value,  soon  pass  from  the 
mind  and  are  forgotten.  On  the  other  hand,  a  right 
answer  to  this  question,  What  is  money?  opens  to  the 
mind  a  pleasurable  look  into  a  real  truth  —  a  truth  which 
affects  all  people  in  a  most  intimate  manner. 

"  The  question  has  been  answered  in  a  number  of  ways, 
and  most  people,  seeing  so  many  different  guesses  at  it, 
don't  try  to  find  the  answer,  but  content  themselves  in 
saying,  '  Well,  I  give  it  up.'  Now  there  ought  to  be  a 
very  clear  and  correct  understanding  of  this  subject,  and 
I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  it  to  be  so  simple  that  it 
may  be  brought  within  the  comprehension  of  an  intelligent 
lad  of  ten  or  twelve  years.  This  article  will  be  an  effort 
so  to  present  it  as  to  make  it  easily  understood. 


What  is  Money?  37 

"  In  a  certain  school  one  of  the  younger  pupils  was 
asked  to  write  a  definition  of  salt ;  to  tell  what  it  is  in 
itself,  the  use  it  serves,  et  cetera,  et  cetera.  He  made 
this  graphic  explanation :  '  Salt  is  a  white  powder  which 
everybody  has  on  the  table  at  meal-time,  and  it  makes 
potatoes  taste  awful  bad  if  you  don't  put  any  of  it  on  'em.' 

HOW   MONEY  CAME  INTO  EXISTENCE. 

'  The  description  is  very  good,  but  hardly  compre- 
hensive. If  the  same  boy  were  asked,  '  What  is  money  ? ' 
he  would  probably  reply :  '  Money  is  something  that  will 
buy  everything,  and  it  makes  people  feel  awful  poor  if 
they  haven't  any.'  Everybody  would  admit  the  truthful- 
ness of  the  boy's  answer,  so  far  as  it  goes,  but,  like  the 
definition  of  salt,  it  is  manifestly  inadequate.  We  want 
to  reach  a  little  deeper. 

"  There  are  two  ways  to  arrive  at  knowledge  of  a  thing : 
The  one  is  to  observe  the  development  of  those  forces  and 
conditions  which  create  the  thing ;  the  other  is  to  analyze 
the  fact  after  it  appears,  and  learn,  if  possible,  the  ele- 
ments which  constitute  it.  The  botanist,  by  this  latter 
method,  makes  known  to  us  the  history  and  constitution 
of  the  plant. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  we,  the  simplest  of  us,  can  watch 
the  plant  as  it  first  appears  above  the  soil.  We  can  observe 
the  growing  stalk,  and  see  it  as  it  gradually  takes  on  leaf 
and  bud,  until  rewarded  by  the  beauty  of  the  blossom. 
We  may  not  know  the  scientific  names  which  have  been 
given  to  any  of  the  parts  and  processes  of  the  plant,  but 
we  have  a  clear  and  satisfying  idea  of  the  law  of  the  life 
in  that  plant  in  the  world.  In  the  same  way  we  may  study 
money  and  read  its  history. 

"  Once,  money  was  unknown.  It  was  a  rude  and  bar- 
baric period.    Men  enjoyed  the  use  of  but  few  things  then. 


386474 


38  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

There  was  very  little  of  the  luxuries.  Even  the  comforts 
of  life  were  wanting.  Some,  however,  had  things  beyond 
their  needs,  and  a  portion  of  these  they  desired  to  ex- 
change for  other  things  of  which  they  had  none. 

'  The  hunter,  skilled  in  the  chase,  had  more  than  he 
needed  of  furs  and  skins,  but  he  wanted  salt,  or  fruit,  or 
fish.  To  obtain  them,  he  was  obliged  to  find  some  one 
who  had  a  surplus  of  these  things,  and  was  in  need  of 
furs  or  skins.    When  these  two  met,  a  trade  was  made. 

"  The  terms  of  the  exchange  were  very  irregular,  and 
often  those  who  had  things  to  exchange  could  find  no  one 
who  possessed  the  things  they  desired,  or  if  they  found 
such  a  person,  the  owner  did  not  desire  the  things  of 
which  the  other  was  possessed.  It  is  easy  to  see  how 
troublesome  this  all  was,  and  to  understand  the  loss  of 
time  and  the  many  disappointments  which  were  involved. 

"After  a  while  a  man  appeared  who  was  able  to  gather 
into  a  common  stock  a  variety  of  things,  the  most  gen- 
erally desired  by  the  people.  These  he  would  exchange 
with  any  one  who  had  desirable  things  of  any  kind,  which 
in  turn  he  would  keep  on  hand  until  some  one  else  ap- 
peared who  should  desire  them.  The  hunter  with  his 
furs  or  skins  could  go  to  the  trader,  and  on  terms  mutually 
agreed  upon,  he  could  exchange  the  products  of  the  chase 
for  any  of  the  goods  or  wares  in  the  trader's  stock. 

INCONVENIENCES   OF   BARTER. 

"  Of  course,  in  a  community  where  there  was  only  one 
such  trader,  he  was  in  a  position  to  make  thrifty  bargains 
for  himself.  In  the  earlier  days  of  our  country,  especially 
on  the  frontiers  among  the  Indians,  this  was  the  method 
of  trade.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  and  John  Jacob 
Astor  established  trading  posts  throughout  the  great 
Northwest.     They  kept  on  hand  guns  and  powder  and 


What  is  Money?  39 

shot,  blankets,  beads  and  many  articles  of  finery,  such 
as  would  attract  the  Indian's  taste  or  supply  his  needs. 

"As  men  advanced  from  barbarism  toward  civilization, 
industry  became  diversified,  and  with  new  tools  and  im- 
proved methods,  wealth  —  the  total  of  useful  things  — 
increased  both  in  quantity  and  variety.  The  tiller  of  the 
soil  produced  not  only  enough  to  give  him  a  power  of 
exchange  sufficient  for  his  immediate  varied  needs  ;  he 
had  still  a  surplus  remaining,  the  power  of  which  he 
desired  to  keep  against  a  possible  future  when  he  might 
find  his  season's  toil  wasted  or  lost. 

"  Few  products  of  the  land  can  be  kept  even  one  year ; 
they  will  decay  or  become  damaged  by  age.  This  was 
equally  true  of  the  products  of  most  forms  of  industry. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  in  fact,  it  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary, that  such  products  should  be  at  once  exchanged. 

"  It  was  also  natural  that  the  owner  of  such  products 
or  goods,  after  securing  in  exchange  such  articles  as  were 
required  for  his  immediate  use,  should  want  the  difference 
—  the  surplus  —  in  some  commodity  which  would  not 
lose  value  by  being  put  aside  or  kept,  and  which  could  be 
the  most  readily  exchanged  back  again  when  the  time  of 
need  should  come. 

"  Many  people  were  thus  situated,  and  so  it  came  about 
that  for  certain  things  there  was  a  special  demand,  and 
out  of  several  things  thus  favored  there  came  at  last  to 
be  one  preferred  to  any  and  all  others.  That  thing  became 
the  common  medium  of  exchange  for  all  other  things ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  became  common  for  him  who  had  potat<  >es 
to  exchange  them  for  that  particular  thing,  and  then  that 
particular  thing  he  would  again  exchange  for  other  goods, 
as  his  needs  or  desires  might  dictate. 

"  So  universal  did  this  practice  become  that  all  other 
things  came  at  last  to  be  priced  or  valued  by  the  quan- 


4-0  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

tity  of  that  particular  thing  for  which  they  could  be  ex- 
changed. Now  that  particular  thing,  whatever  it  was  at 
any  time  or  place,  acquired  the  function  and  the  name  of 
money. 

THE    MEDIUM    OF    EXCHANGE. 

"As  everything  else  was  first  exchanged  for  it,  it  be- 
came what  money  is  now  scientifically  declared  to  be,  '  the 
common  medium  of  exchange.'  As  all  other  things  be- 
came related  to  it,  as  to  the  quantity  which  must  be  given 
in  exchange  for  it,  it  took  on  another  quality  ;  it  became 
the  measurer  of  values. 

"  But  this  particular  thing,  which  thus  became  the 
common  medium  of  exchange  and  the  measure  of  value, 
was  not  always  and  everywhere  the  same.  It  differed 
greatly  according  to  time  and  peoples.  In  one  country 
the  particular  thing  we  are  talking  about,  and  which  we 
will  now  call  money,  was  the  cowry-shell ;  in  another,  it 
was  iron ;  in  another,  bearskins. 

"  When  the  Pilgrims  landed,  they  found  that  the  money 
used  by  the  Indians  consisted  of  wampum  —  small  shell 
beads  pierced  and  strung.  Even  at  this  time  the  Indian 
tribes  in  Alaska  use  as  a  '  medium  of  exchange  '  and  a 
measure  of  price  or  value  small  beads  made  of  turquoise. 
They  are,  and  for  generations  have  been,  the  money  of 
those  people.    How  it  came  to  be  so  none  of  them  can  tell. 

A  STOREHOUSE   FOR  VALUE. 

"  Well,  among  other  things  which  came  to  be  thus  used 
as  money  were  gold  and  silver.  They  were  adopted,  not 
by  any  agreement ;  they  were  the  result  of  a  natural  selec- 
tion, and  well  it  is  that  it  was  so,  because  of  all  things  ever 
used  as  money  they  best  meet  the  requirements.  They 
are  practically  indestructible,  divisible  into  small  portions, 
and  change  in  value  slowly.     It  is  good  that  they  change 


What  is  Money?  41 

in  value  slowly.  Because  of  that  they  arc  safer  to  keep 
until  a  future  time  than  other  things,  with  a  reasonable 
expectation  that  they  will  buy  as  much  then  as  now.  For 
that  reason  they  possess  another  quality  :  they  are  in  a 
sense  a  storehouse  for  value. 

"And  so  the  economists  find  a  third  term  for  the  de- 
scription of  money.  They  say  not  only  that  it  is  a  com- 
mon medium  of  exchange  and  a  measure  of  value,  but 
they  add,  it  is  a  store  for  value. 

"  Now  when  gold  and  silver  first  became  money,  they 
were  not  coined  as  at  present.  They  both  passed  by 
weight,  and  everybody  had  to  carry  scales  to  weigh  them 
with,  and  that  was  very  awkward.  Besides,  there  was 
trouble  about  the  quality.  There  may  be  much  difference 
in  purity  between  two  pieces  of  gold  of  like  weight,  and 
they  will  therefore  possess  a  real  difference  in  value. 

"  When  stable  government  became  established,  it  under- 
took to  cure  these  troubles  by  coining  the  metals.  This 
did  not  make  money  of  them.  They  were  money  before. 
The  government  simply  took  certain  quantities  of  the 
metals,  put  its  stamp  upon  the  different-sized  pieces,  and 
Sfave  each  a  name. 

"  The  stamp  really  certified  that  each  certain  piece  was 
of  exact  equal  weight  and  fineness  with  every  other  piece 
of  the  same  name.  In  our  country  we  call  the  different  coins 
dollars,  half-dollars,  dimes  and  so  forth.  We  no  longer 
talk  about  money  by  weights.  We  talk  about  it  by  the 
names  of  the  pieces  which  by  law  contain  so  much  weight 
of  so  much  fineness.    This  is  a  great  convenience  in  every 

way. 

"  Since  society  has  become  settled,  people  have  become' 
willing  to  trust  one  another.  One  man  will  now  sell  his 
goods  or  wares  to  another  on  the  latter' s  promise  to  pay 
him  at  a  future  time.    But,  naturally  enough,  the  one  who 


42  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

sells  wants  to  know  with  what  he  will  be  paid.  If  he  is  to 
be  paid  in  dollars,  he  wants  to  know  that  they  will  be  the 
same  kind  of  dollars  for  which  he  could  sell  his  goods 
now ;  consequently  money  at  this  point  gets  another  qual- 
ity.    It  is  a  standard  for  future  payment. 

A    PAPER    PROMISE. 

"  We  have  now  watched  and  seen  how  money  grew 
to  be,  and  how  it  serves  human  uses.  We  have  seen  that 
it  is  a  common  medium  of  exchange,  a  measure  of  value, 
a  store  of  value,  a  standard  of  future  payment;  and  if  you 
asked  an  economist  to  tell  you  what  is  money,  these  are 
the  very  terms  he  would  use  to  answer  you. 

"  This  story  about  money  could  be  brought  to  an  end 
right  here  were  it  not  that  the  reader  would  perhaps  say: 
'  Well,  I  for  one  have  seen  very  little  of  the  kind  of  money 
which  the  story  describes.  I  have  seen  and  handled  silver, 
and  occasionally  a  gold-piece,  but  nearly  all  the  money 
that  goes  through  my  hands  is  made  of  paper.  He  doesn't 
say  anything  at  all  about  that.  Doesn't  he  call  that 
money  ?  '  So  the  story  is  not  reaily  complete  without  a 
few  words  about  paper  money. 

'  It  must  be  admitted  that  paper  money  is  also  '  a  com- 
mon medium  of  exchange,'  and  serves  many  uses  which 
gold  money  serves,  but  it  is  very  different  in  its  char- 
acter. Real  money,  gold,  or  silver  where  silver  is  the 
standard  money,  possesses  its  power  to  buy  things  by 
reason  of  what  it  is  in  itself.  Paper  money  possesses  its 
power  by  reason  of  what  it  promises. 

'  If  people  have  faith  that  the  promise  printed  on  the 
paper  will  be  faithfully  kept,  they  will  give  their  property 
or  their  service  for  it  as  freely  as  they  will  for  real  money. 
It  all  depends  upon  faith  in  the  promise.  If  any  one 
doubts  this,  he  can  prove  it  by  an  experiment :  — 


What  is  Money?  43 

"  Take  a  five-dollar  gold-piece  and  disfigure  it  with  a 
hammer  until  nothing  can  be  read  upon  the  coin,  or  even 
melt  it  into  a  mere  lump.  It  will  still  be  worth  five  dollar-, 
at  the  mint.  Then  take  a  five-dollar  note,  issued  either  by 
a  bank  or  by  the  government.  If  you  disfigure  that  so 
that  nothing  can  be  seen  to  determine  who  made  the  prom- 
ise to  pay,  or  for  what  amount  the  promise  read,  you  will 
find  to  your  regret  that  the  piece  of  paper  is  worth - 
nothing. 

"  Now  if  the  value  of  paper  money  depends  upon  the 
faith  which  men  have  that  its  promise  will  be  kept,  it  will 
be  well  for  us  to  understand  what  the  promise  means.  It 
is  a  promise  to  pay  in  coin,  which  is  real  money  —  the  kind 
of  monev  which  I  have  been  describing. 

"  Convertibility,  that  is,  the  quality  of  being  readily  ex- 
changeable for  coin  money,  is  the  very  soul  of  sound 
paper  money.  When  once  this  saving  quality  is  injured 
for  any  cause,  so  that  faith  is  shaken,  then  paper  money 
falls  below  the  value  of  coin  money. 

"At  such  a  time  evils  innumerable  appear,  for  it  is  an 
unwritten,  but  nevertheless  certain,  law  that  where  paper 
money  falls  below  the  value  of  coined  money  it  supplants 
the  coined  money  and  takes  the  place  of  true  money,  by 
which  things,  even  then,  are  really  related  in  price  and 
values  determined.  Thus  it  becomes  a  fluctuating  and 
unsettling  medium  of  exchange.  The  prices  of  things 
then  vary  from  day  to  day,  according  to  the  influences 
which  operate  either  to  raise  or  lower  the  paper  money 
in  its  relation  to  real  money. 

"  This  happened  during  the  Civil  War,  when  legal- 
tender  notes,  commonly  called  '  greenbacks,'  were  issued. 
They  soon  became  the  only  circulating  medium  of  the 
country,  and  their  value  rose  and  fell  in  response  to  either 
victory  or  defeat  in  battle.     As  measured  in  gold,  they 


44  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

fell  to  a  point  where  they  were  worth  only  thirty-five 
cents  on  the  dollar,  and,  since  commodities  were  quoted 
in  terms  of  paper  money,  prices  more  than  doubled  in  the 
four  years  of  the  war. 

QUEER     RESULTS    OF     SHIFTING   PRICES. 

"  Thus  the  merchant  who  bought  two  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  cotton  cloth  before  the  greenbacks  fell  appre- 
ciably in  value,  found  in  a  year  that  he  could  sell  his  cloth 
for  three  thousand  dollars ;  and  the  transaction  being  ap- 
parently profitable,  he  sought  to  repeat  it,  but  found  that 
he  could  only  buy  as  much  with  his  three  thousand  dollars 
as  he  had  the  year  before  with  two  thousand  dollars ;  and 
so,  later,  he  could  only  buy  as  much  for  four  thousand 
dollars  as  he  had  once  bought  for  two  thousand  dollars. 

"A  familiar  instance  of  what  occurs  when  the  country 
suffers  from  the  blight  of  a  depreciating  paper  currency 
grew  out  of  a  transaction  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 
Then  the  paper  money  of  the  Revolution  depreciated  so 
rapidly  that  the  laborer  was  said  to  have  lost  his  wages 
while  he  was  earning  them,  and  a  merchant  illustrated 
the  rise  in  prices  and  the  depreciation  of  the  paper  money 
of  the  Revolution  by  showing  that  at  first  he  bought  a 
hogshead  of  sugar  and  disposed  of  it  at  a  fine  profit ;  but 
the  currency  in  which  he  was  paid  would  only  buy  a 
tierce,  which  he  sold  also  for  a  good  profit,  and  then,  to 
his  chagrin,  the  proceeds  would  only  buy  a  barrel. 

"  By  looking  backward  as  we  have  done,  and  by  trac- 
ing the  development  of  society  upward,  we  can  see  how 
men  advanced  from  that  stage  where  barter  was  the  rule 
of  exchange  to  that  period  when  money  became  a  natural 
and  useful  intermediary,  and  to  that  further  and  higher 
state  where  character  and  credit  gave  to  the  simple  prom- 
ise to  pay  a  power  hardly  inferior  to  the  potency  of  the 
thing  promised." — Youth's  Companion.  June  20,  ipoi. 


What  is  Money?  45 

The  Definition  and  Concept  of  Prof.  J.  Laurence 
Laughlin. — ''Money  is  merely  a  road  —  not  the  place 
to  which  the  road  leads." — Laughlin' 's  Political  Economy, 
page  108. 

The  Definition  and  Concept  of  the  Hon.  Thomas 
B.  Reed. — "  Money  is  a  hayrack." 

This  last  definition  and  concept  of  money  was  taken 
from  the  newspapers  at  the  time  the  Hon.  Thomas  B. 
Reed  made  speeches  on  the  Pacific  coast  during  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1896. 

The  definitions  and  concepts  of  many  other  authors 
might  be  given,  but  it  is  deemed  that  no  service  would 
be  derived  from  further  quotations,  as  they  all  are  merely 
repetitions  of  those  above  given,  or  simply  parts  of  them. 

From  the  foregoing  examples  the  character  of  all  the 
others  may  be  judged.     They  are  all  alike. 

A  Challenge. —  After  any  man  has  read  all  the  writ- 
ings of  these  modern  days  on  the  subject, —  and  surely 
the  quantity  is  enormous  and  even  appalling, —  the  chal- 
lenge is  made  to  him  to  say  that  he  has  a  clear,  adequate, 
and  satisfying  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

Incidents. —  An  incident :  In  a  conversation  with  a 
very  prominent  politician  of  one  of  the  Eastern  States 
recently,  the  author  put  to  him  the  questions,  "Do  you 
understand  the  Silver  Question?  Do  you  understand 
What  is  Money?"  He  answered,  "No;  I  frankly  con- 
fess I  do  not.  Recently  I  was  invited  to  address  a  meet- 
ing on  this  subject.  I  thought  I  understood  it.  and  sat 
down  to  write  my  address.  I  thought  and  thought ;  out- 
lined and  outlined  ;  but  finally  arose  from  my  table  with- 
out understanding  the  subject;  and  I  do  not  yet  under- 
stand it." 

Another  incident :  Recently  the  author  had  the  pleasure 
of  listening  to  a  part  of  a  course  of  lectures  on  "  Money  ' 


46  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

in  one  of  the  Eastern  Universities  by  a  gentleman  whom 
he  had  heard  called  the  ablest  political  economist  in  the 
United  States;  and  he  certainly  was,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  author,  a  very  able  man.  In  the  first  lecture  he 
gave  his  concept  and  definition  of  money.  At  the  close 
the  author  remarked  to  some  gentlemen  sitting  near  him 
that  he  should  like  to  ask  a  few  questions,  at  the  same 
time  stating  the  questions.  The  questions  were  designed 
to  bring  out  the  fallacies  of  the  definition  of  money  that 
had  just  been  given.  It  is  not  to  the  author  known 
whether  the  questions  ever  reached  the  ears  of  the  lec- 
turer ;  but  this  is  known  to  him,  that  on  the  next  evening 
the  first  statement  the  lecturer  made  was  this :  "  Gentle- 
men, last  evening  I  gave  you  a  definition  of  money ;  this 
evening  I  take  it  back  ;  it  is  not  Correct."  He  gave  no 
other  definition  of  mohey  that  evening ;  and  being  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  place  before  another  lecture,  the  author 
never  knew  whether  he  ever  gave  any. 

The  Confession  of  Adam  Smith. —  These  incidents 
are  given  to  show  the  darkness,  uncertainty  and  confusion 
on  this  subject ;  and  taken  in  connection  with  the  follow- 
ing confession  of  Adam  Smith,  the  "  father  of  political 
economy,"  and  the  greatest  of  all  the  writers  thereon,  are, 
it  is  hoped,  sufficient  justification  for  introducing  them 
here :  — 

"  In  order  to  investigate  the  principles  w  Inch  regulate 
the  exchangeable  value  of  commodities,  I  shall  endeavor 
to  show :  — 

"  First,  What  is  the  real  measure  of  this  exchangeable 
value ;  or,  wherein  consists  the  real  price  of  all  com- 
modities. 

"  Secondly,  What  are  the  different  parts  of  which  this 
real  price  is  composed  or  made  up. 


What  is  Money?  47 

"And,  lastly,  What  are  the  different  circumstances  which 
sometimes  raise  some  or  all  of  these  different  parts  of 
price  above,  and  sometimes  sink  them  below,  their  nat- 
ural or  ordinary  rate ;  or,  what  are  the  causes  which 
sometimes  hinder  the  market  price,  that  is,  the  actual  price 
of  commodities,  from  coinciding  exactly  with  what  may 
be  called  their  actual  price. 

"  I  shall  endeavor  to  explain,  as  fully  and  distinctly  as 
I  can,  those  three  subjects  in  the  three  following  chap- 
ters, for  which  I  must  very  earnestly  entreat  both  the 
patience  and  attention  of  the  reader:  his  patience,  in  order 
to  examine  a  detail  which  may  perhaps  in  some  places 
appear  unnecessarily  tedious ;  and  his  attention,  in  order 
to  understand  what  may,  perhaps,  after  the  fullest  expli- 
cation which  I  am  capable  of  giving  it,  appear  still  in 
some  degree  obscure.  I  am  always  willing  to  run  some 
hazard  of  being  tedious  in  order  to  be  sure  that  I  am  per- 
spicuous ;  and  after  taking  the  utmost  pains  that  I  can  to 
be  perspicuous,  some  obscurity  may  still  appear  to  remain 
upon  a  subject  in  its  own  nature  extremely  abstracted." — 
Adam  Smith's  "  Wealth  of  Nations,"  page  74. 

In  the  foregoing  paragraph  Adam  Smith,  it  is  thought, 
practically  confesses  that  he  does  not  understand  the 
subject.  For  after,  in  effect,  saying  it  is  a  deep,  dark  and 
difficult  subject,  he  says  that  after  he  shall  have\  written 
all  thereon  that  he  intends  to  write,  he  fears  the  subject 
will  still  be  obscure  and  not  understood.  This  is  taken  as 
a  noble  confession  of  his  own  inability  fully  to  compre- 
hend, grasp  and  see  through  the  subject:  for  if  he  had 
clear  views,  and  expressed  them  in  clear  language,  it 
would  certainly  have  been  a  poor  compliment  to  his  read- 
ers to  say  to  them  that  he  feared  that  they  could  not  under- 
stand the  subject,  although  he  could! 


48  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

It  may  be  admitted,  then,  that  the  subject  is  one  diffi- 
cult of  comprehension.  It  is  deep,  dark,  abstract  and 
obscure.  But  is  it  insoluble,  as  some  have  suggested? 
It  is  believed  that  it  may  be  easily  understood  if  ap- 
proached from  the  right  point  of  view ;  and  this  will  be 
now   attempted. 


CHAPTER    II. 

Showing  the  Error  of  the  Common  and  Even 
Universally  Accepted  Views. 

THE    ACCEPTED    DEFINITION    OF    MONEY. — That    the  Re-stated  In 
i       r    11  ,-t  i  •  compact 

errors   and    fallacies    ot    the   accepted   views   may  form. 

clearly  appear,  those  views  will  now  be  re-stated  in 

compact  form,  doing,  however,  not  the  slightest  injustice 

to  them  in  the  re-statement.  ■ 

According  to  those  views,  Money  is  — 

i .  A  medium  of  exchange ; 

2.  A  measure  of  value  ;  and 

3.  A  measure  or  standard  of  deferred  payments. 
Criticism  of  the  Accepted  Definition. —  That  this 

is  a  fair  statement,  a  glance  at  the  quotations  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  will  show.  Now  let  us  examine  it.  It 
may  perhaps  better  be  done  by  taking  up  the  points  in  the 
inverse  order,  the  third  or  last  one  first.  Confusion  and  confusion. 
inaccuracy  appear  at  the  very  beginning.  Third  point  is, 
"  Money  is  measure  or  standard  of  deferred  payments ;  " 
the  second  point  is,  "Money  is  a  measure  of  value/'  Now, 
if  money  is  a  measure  of  value,  it  measures  all  values. 
Then  why  say  money  measures  all  values  and  then  add 
a  third  point  and  say  it  is  a  measure  or  standard  of  de- 
ferred payments  ?  As  well  say  it  measures  all  values,  and 
then  add  third  point  to  say  it  measures  the  value  of  a  hat ! 
or  that  the  yardstick,  in  its  multiples  and  aliquot,  or  equal, 
parts,  is  that  which  measures  all  length,  and  then  add  a 
second  point  to  the  definition,  to  wit,  it  measures  the 
4  49 


50  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

length  of  a  street !     The  second  point  of  the  definition  is 
included  in  the  first  point. 
Third  point         Clearlv,  then,  the  third  point  vanishes,  disappears  in 

included  in  .  . 

the  second,  the  second  point,  as  being'  contained  therein  ;  and  we  gain 
nothing  therefrom  toward  a  definition  or  true  concept  of 
money. 

second  point      Let  us  proceed  to  the  second  point,  to  wit,  "  Money  is  a 

meaningless,  measure  of  value."     This  must  mean  one  of  two  things : 
(i)  Money  is  the  only  measure  of  values;  or  (2)  money 
"is  a  measure  of  values,  and  other  things  also  are  measures 
of  values. 

If  the  first  is  meant,  to  wit,  Money  is  the  only  measure 

illustrations,  of  value,  it  is  false.  Illustration :  A  says  to  B,  "  I  will 
give  you  my  horse  for  $50."  B  says,  "Agreed."  Does 
not  the  $50  measure  the  value  of  the  horse?  And  does 
not  the  horse  also  measure  the  value  of  the  $50? 

Again,  A  says  to  B,  "  I  will  give  you  my  horse  for  your 
cow."  B  says,  "Agreed."  Does  not  the  horse  measure 
the  value  of  the  cow,  and  does  not  the  cow  measure  the 
value  of  the  horse? 

In  the  two  transactions  stated  is  there  a  particle  of 
difference  between  the  functions,  the  work,  of  the  $50  in 
the  first  transaction  and  those  of  the  cow  in  the  second? 
There  is  not  a  particle  of  difference  —  their  functions  are 
precisely  the  same.  Then  there  are  other  measures  of 
value  besides  money,  and  what  is  the  difference  between 
those  measures  and  money?  Thus  far  Ave  have  seen  none. 
Which  horn  of  the  dilemma  will  be  taken?  If  the  first 
meaning  is  chosen,  to  wit,  "  Money  is  the  only  measure 
of  value,"  it  is  shown  to  be  false  ;  if  the  second  meaning 
be  chosen,  to  wit,  "  Money  is  a  measure  of  value,  and 
other  things  also  are  measures  of  value,"  what  is  the  dif- 
ference between  those  other  things,  or  measures  of  value, 
and  money? 


What  is  Money?  51 

In  science  a  definition  to  be  of  any  value  must  dis-  Definition  «f 
tinguish  the  thing-  defined  from  every  other  thing.  If  it  dt"",tlou- 
does  not  distinguish  it  from  even  one  single  other  thing, 
then  it  is  not  a  good  definition.  In  the  definition  above- 
given  from  the  writers  on  economics,  the  term  money  is 
not  distinguished  from  any  other  thing  in  the  world. 
Hence,  of  all  the  definitions  of  things  made  or  attempted 
to  be  made,  there  could  hardly  be  a  worse.  Wore*  deflni- 

Thus,    the   third   point    and    the   second    point   of   this  made!™ 
widely  used  and  accepted  definition  of  money  are  gone, 
and  we  have  not  made  a  step  toward  a  definition  of  money ! 

Let  us  examine  the  first  point  thereof,  to  wit,  "  Money 
is  a  medium  of  exchange."  This  is  overthrown  by  the  n,-,t  point 
same  reasoning  that  overthrew  the  other.  It  also  must  m^a^iess. 
mean  one  of  two  things :  ( 1 )  Money  is  the  only  medium 
of  exchange;  or,  (2)  Money  is  a  medium  of  exchange, 
and  that  there  are  likewise  other  media  of  exchange  be- 
sides money. 

If  the  first,  to  wit.  Money  is  the  only  medium  of  ex- 
change, be  the  meaning  intended,  it  is  false.  Illustra-  illustrations. 
tion :  A  wants  B's  cow,  but  B  does  not  want  A's  horse.  A 
gives  his  horse  to  C  for  $50,  and  then  gives  the  $50  to  B 
for  B's  cow.  Is  not  the  $50  the  medium,  the  means,  by 
which  the  transaction  is  carried  on,  the  medium  or  means 
by  which  A  gets  B's  cow? 

But  suppose  A  gives  his  horse  to  C  for  C's  watch,  and 
then  gives  the  watch  to  B  for  B's  cow.  Is  not  the  watch 
the  medium,  the  means,  by  which  the  transaction  is  carried 
on;  the  medium,  the  means,  by  which  A  gets  B's  cow0 
And  is  there  a  particle  of  difference  between  the  func- 
tions, the  work,  of  the  $50  in  the  first  transaction  and 
the  functions,  the  work,  of  the  watch  in  the  second? 
There  is  not  a  particle  of  difference,  the  functions  of  the 
$50  and  those  of  the  watch  are  precisely  the  same. 


52 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Mere   inci- 
dents  of 
money. 


The  three  Then  the  definition  in  its  entirety,  its  first,  second  and 

gone,  ^jj.^  p0jnts>  js  gone,  and  we  have  not  yet  made  a  single 
step  towards  a  definition  of  money !  We  have  all  that 
each  and  all  of  the  writers  on  political  economy  that  the 
author  has  ever  read,  and  that  is  no  small  number,  have 
written,  and  we  stand  just  where  we  stood  at  starting. 

Not  a  step    not  a  single  step  made  in  advance !    And  this  —  while  it  is 

made   toward  ...  .    .       ,  111  •   • 

a  definition    not  desired  to  be  even  critical,  much  less  hypercritical  or 

of  money.  .  .... 

severe,  yet  there  can  be  no  impropriety  in  saying  —  in  a 
boasted  science,  taught  in  the  great  universities  of  the 
world ! 

But  again  to  our  subject.  The  three  points  or  divis- 
ions of  the  definition  above  given  are  indeed  incidents 
of  money,  but  mere  incidents ;  the  main  thing  is  not  even 
suggested  by  them !  Further  on  in  this  work  it  will  be 
perceived  that  what  are  here  termed  "  incidents "  of 
money  are  there  called  by  another  designation,  in  order 
to  make  clear  certain  distinctions  that  otherwise  it  was 
feared  might  not  be  so  well  understood. 

True,  in  the  work  of  Devas,  a  quotation  from  which 
can  be  found  on  page  35  of  this  work,  there  is  a  vague 
reference  to  something  that  might  possibly  be  magnified 
into  a  bare  suggestion ;  but  more  of  that  hereafter. 

A  Pertinent  Question. — A  pertinent  question  for  the 
propounders  and  advocates  of  such  definitions  of  money  is, 
Whence  and  how  gets  money  this  power  to  be  ( 1 )  a 
medium  of  exchange,  (2)  a  measure  of  value  and  (3)  a 
measure  or  standard  of  deferred  payments?  No  state- 
ment of  the  question,  much  less  an  answer  thereto,  is  made 
by  any  writer  whom  the  author  of  this  work  has  ever 
read.  If  any  has  ever  been  made,  he  has  never  seen  or 
heard  of  it. 

The  Answer. —  The  answer  is,  The  law  gives  the 
power.     How  ?     By  declaring  that  some  thing  or  some 


Whence? 
How  ? 


The  law. 


What  is  Money?  53 


things  shall  be  tender.    That  is  the  word  used  in  the  Con-  Declaring 

someth1- 

or    thin 
tender. 


something 

stitution  of  the  Lnited  btates,  and  is  the  correct  one,  al-  <»r  things 


though  the  phrase  in  common  parlance  is  "  legal  tender." 
The  word  "legal"  is  tautological.  You  cannot  make  a 
"  tender"  unless  you  do  all  things  necessary  to  make  it 
legal.  If  you  do  less  than  all,  it  is  in  legal,  and  the  correct, 
language,  "  no  tender.' 


»j 


CHAPTER   III. 

The  True  Concept  and  Definition  of  Money. 


A 


SECTION    I. 

General  Statement  :  Tender. 

s  has  been   seen,  the  definitions  of  money  usually 
given  by  the  text-book  makers  and  other  authors 
on    the    subject,   are    vague,    uncertain,    fallacious 
and  misleading.     In  legal  language,  they  are  "  unintel- 
ligible and  uncertain,"  and  "  should  be  stricken  out  on 
Motion  motion."     And  here  and  now  is  filed  a  motion  to  strike 

niude. 

tiiem  out ;  and  it  is  humbly  trusted  that  the  Great  Court 
of  the  Sovereigns,  the  people  of  America,  may  grant  the 
motion,  overrule  the  decision- of  those  usurping  courts, 
the  Congress  of  1S73  and  its  successors,  and  adopt  the, 
as  it  is  most  earnestly  and  sincerely  believed,  true,  clear, 
precise,  accurate  and  scientific  definition  of  money  which 
shall  now  be  given. 

The  Thirty  Years'  War. —  But  before  giving  it, 
with  its  explication  and  elaboration,  it  is  hoped  that  in- 
dulgence may  be  granted  for  just  one  remark,  and  like- 
wise pardon  for  making  the  same.  It  is  this  :  in  the  light 
of  what  has  already  been  said,  showing  the  absurdity  of 
the  views  of  even  renowned  writers  on  "  economic 
science,"  so-called,  on  the  subject  of  money,  can  it  be  won- 
dered at  that  we  have  had  in  America  a  "  thirty  years' 
54 


What  is  Money?  55 

war  "  on  the  subject ;  and  that  the  only  result  of  it  so  far  is 

that  those  who  believe  that  silver  is  a  royal  metal, —  that  Royal 

is,  a  metal  of  which  money  can  be  made,  as  was  the  case 

with   it   in   every   country   in   Europe   until   England,   by  in  Europe 

legislative  enactment,  in  18 16  struck  off  its  royal  crown,  1816. 

that  is,  legislated  the  money  function  out  of  it,  thereby 

preventing  it  thereafter  in  that  country  from  being  a  royal 

metal,  a  precious  or  money  metal ;  and  also  as  was  its 

status  in  the  minds  of  those  great,  wise  and  good  men  who 

framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,   since  by  in  the  states 

said  Constitution  gold  and  silver  are  the  only  things  of  mation  <>f 

.  .  Constitution. 

which  money  can  be  made  in  this  country,  as  it  is  pro- 
posed conclusively  to  show  in  Part  II  of  this  work, —  the 
only  result,  it  is  repeated,  of  this  "  thirty  years'  war," 
is  that  those  men  who  so  believed  as  to  silver  are  by 
the,  in  their  own  opinion,  nearly  all-wise  Gold  Solomons, 
called  "  silver  lunatics."  Shades  of  Solomon  and  the 
Seven  Sages  defend  us ! 

In  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  the  writer  has 
been,  even  on  social  occasions,  when  the  amenities  of 
life  and  the  civilities  common  among  gentlemen,  it  seems,  Social 
would  have  forbidden,  been  called  a  "  silver  lunatic  "  by 
Gold  Solomons,  and  that  even  before  he  had  opened  his 
mouth,  or  said  a  word,  but  simply  when  he  was  intro- 
duced as  a  man  from  Nevada !  This  too  could  not 
have  been  because  he  was,  as  has  been  said  of  him  by 
some  even  in  Nevada,  "  making  himself  a  bore  and  un- 
popular on  this  subject;  "  because  as  stated  above,  it  was 
immediately  on  his  being  introduced  and  before  he  had 
uttered  a  syllable ! 

Gentle  reader,  please  do  not  suppose  that  these  matters  Entreaty, 
have  left  any  feeling  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.     No!  no! ! 
no ! ! !    They  are  given  only  for  this  purpose  :  to  show  how 
wise  and  polite  a  wise  Gold  Solomon  may  be ! 


56 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


True  defini-       The  true  definition  of  money  is  as  follows:  Money  is 
money.  tender,  and  only  money  is  tender ;  and  tender  is  money, 

and  only  tender  is  money. 
Tender  eom-     As   stated   on   a  preceding  page,   the   word   "  tender  " 
••  legal  t'en-here  has  the  same  meaning  that  the  phrase  "  legal  tender  " 

has  in  the  common  language  of  life. 
Eeonomic  Yield  to  money  its  true  meaning  as  stated  above  and 

atmosphere  ,        ,        ,,  •     »  i   4  •    1  •> 

clears  up.      instantly  the     economic     and     commercial     atmosphere, 
so  to  speak,  clears  up. 


Resulting 
from   ten- 
der two  at- 
tributes : 
(1)    payer  of 
debts;     (2) 
discharger  of 
obligations. 


Resulting 
from   these 
three,    two 
character- 
istics:   (1) 
Common 
measure   of 
value;     (2) 
medium    of 
exchange. 


Resulting 
from    these 
five,    several 
incidents: 
(1)     Measure 
or     standard 
of   value;    (2) 
storer   of 
value. 


SECTION  II. 
Specific   Statement. 

Resulting  from  this  quality,  tender,  and  from  this 
quality  alone,  money  acquires  two  what  it  is  hoped  may 
not  be  improperly  called  most  important  attributes :  — 

i.  A  payer  of  debts;  and 

2.  A  discharger  of  obligations. 

Resulting  from  tender  and  from  the  attributes  of  debt- 
paving  and  obligation  discharging,  money  acquires  two, 
it  is  believed  properly  termed,  very  important  character- 
istics :  — 

i.  A  common  measure  of  value,  sometimes  called  a 
common  denominator  of  value ;  and 

2.  A   medium  of  exchange. 

Resulting  from  tender  and  the  attributes  of  debt-paying 
and  obligation  discharging,  and  also  the  characteristics 
of  common  measure  of  value  or  common  denominator  of 
value,  money  acquires  several  interesting  incidents,  such 
as :  — 

i.  A  measure  or  standard  of  deferred  payments;  and 

2.  A   storer  of  value. 

Starting  from  the  quality  of  tender,  the  unit,  signify- 


What  is  Money?  57 

ing  the  unit  of  power,  we  have  it  is  hoped  a  clear  view  of 
the  cause  and  effect  relation  between  the  seven  things  rep- 
resented by  the  seven  terms, —  tender,  payer,  discharger, 
measure,  medium,  standard  and  storer.  The  single  terms 
are  used  for  brevity  and  convenience  in  representation  : 
"  payer,"  meaning  payer  of  debts ;  "  discharger,"  dis- 
charger of  obligations ;  "  measure,"  measure  of  value  ; 
"medium,"  medium  of  exchange;  "  standard  "  (used  here 
for  measure),  standard  of  deferred  payments;  "storer," 
storer  of  value. 

The  meaning  intended  to  be  conveyed  is  this :  that 
the  unit,  tender,  produces  the  dnad,  the  payer  and  the 
discharger;  and  the  dnad,  the  payer  and  the  discharger 
together  with  their  producer,  the  unit,  produces  the  triad 
of  tender  and  payer  and  discharger ;  and  the  triad  pro- 
duces the  measure  and  the  medium  ;  and  these  two  to- 
gether with  their  producer,  the  triad,  produces  the  pentad 
of  tender  and  payer  and  discharger  and  measure  and  me- 
dium ;  and  these  five,  the  pentad,  produce  the  standard  and 
storer ;  and  these  two  together  with  their  producer,  the 
pentad,  produce  the  septad,  of  tender  and  payer  and  dis- 
charger and  measure  and  medium  and  standard  and 
storer. 

Each  of  these  is  interblended  with  each  of  the  others 
in  every  case  or  transaction.  But  whatever  the  case  or 
transaction  and  whichever  one  of  the  seven  is  for  the 
time  being  the  foremost  or  prominent  one  in  the  mind 
of  the  writer  or  dealer,  that  and  all  the  remaining  five 
go  back  for  their  strength  to  the  original  source  of 
power,  the  unit,  the  tender.  This  interblending  of  the 
powers  and  forces  of  the  terms  in  all  transactions  causes 
some  writers  to  think  one  of  them  is  the  function  of 
money  and  some  another;  and  they  give  their  definitions 
and   concepts   accordingly.      But    in    all    cases   the   main 


58 


Thirtv  Years'  War  on  Silver 


thing  is  the  function  of  tender.  To  this  all  the  others  go 
forward  for  their  moving  power,  as  all  the  cars,  however 
long  the  train,  go  forward  to  the  engine  for  their  moving 
power. 

These  will  be  examined  in  the  order  above  stated ;  and 
first  of  money  as  a  payer  of  debts  and  discharger  of 
obligations. 

SECTION    III. 
Payer  of  Debts  and  Discharger  of  Obligations. 


What  is  the  meaning  of  the  term  debt?  and  what  is 
Meaning  of  the  meaning  of  paying  a  debt?  For  the  general  pur- 
pose of  trade  and  commerce  and  the  ordinary  affairs  of 
life  these  terms  are  sufficiently  well  understood.  But 
for  the  clear  and  accurate  purposes  of  science,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  there  is  somewhat  more  in  them  than  is  ordi- 
narily perceived  —  that  they  contain  a  deeper  meaning, 
which,  like  most  valuable  truth,  lies  not  on  the  surface. 

For  the  purpose  in  hand,  a  debt  may  be  defined  as  a 
certain  sum  of  money  due  or  to  become  due  from  one 
person  to  another  by  contract  expressed  or  implied.  The 
essential  qualities  are:  (i)  It  must  refer  to  money;  (2) 
the  sum  or  amount  of  money  must  be  fixed  and  deter- 

(3)  amount ;.,,..  , 

(3)  contract,  mined;  and    (3)    it  must  be  a  contract  either  expressed 
or  implied. 

Paying  a  debt  is  the  debtor's  taking  the  exact  amount 
of  money  required,  or  at  least  that  much,  and  handing 
it  to  the  payee  or  creditor ;  and  this  pays  the  debt,  al- 
though the  payee  or  creditor  may  not  desire  that  it  pay 
Tender  pays.it.  The  law  says  such  an  act  pays  the  debt;  and  there 
eT*e  pay"n8:  is  nothing  else  in  the  world  that  can  do  that,  that  is,  pay 
the  debt,  except  money,  tender.     It  would  not  at  all  do 


Three  ele- 
ments : 
(1)  Money 


Paying  a 
debt. 


What  is  Money?  59 


to  offer  for  the  purpose  any  of  the  substitutes  for  money,  offers  of 

.  ...  .  substitutes. 

that  is,  those  tilings  that  arc  commonly  called  money,  but 
are  not  by  the  law  made  tender.  The  creditor  would 
have  the  right  to  reject  them,  and  then  sue  the  debtor 
for  the  amount  of  the  debt  and  interest,  and  also  make 
the  debtor  pay  the  costs  of  the  suit. 

While  this  is  not  the  place  fully  to  answer  the  question, 
What  is  money  in  the  United  States  ?  —  that  question 
being,  for  special  reason,  reserved  for  Part  II  of  this 
work, —  yet  a  reference  is  necessarily  made  to  it  here, 
otherwise  illustration  of  the  subject  could  not  well  be 
made. 

Illustration :  A  incurs  a  debt  to  B  for,  say,  one  hundred 
dollars,  or  indeed  any  amount.  A  wishes  to  make  pay- 
ment. He  goes  to  B  and  offers  him  the  amount  in  national 
bank  notes.  B  says,  "  No,  I  will  not  take  those,  because 
they  are  not  money,  not  tender."  A  then  goes  and  gets 
silver  in  half-  or  quarter-dollars  or  dimes  and  offers  them 
to  B.  B  says,  "  No,  I  will  take  ten  dollars  of  the  amount 
that  you  owe  me  in  fractional  silver  coin,  but  for  the 
remainder  I  will  not  take  fractional  silver,  because  it  is 
not  money,  not  tender."  A  then  tries  gold  certificates ; 
but  meets  with  a  like  answer  and  like  result.  A  then 
tries  silver  certificates,  but  meets  with  a  like  answer  and 
like  result.  A  then  tries  treasury  certificates,  and  meets 
with   a   like   answer   and    like   result.      B   then   sues   A ;  suit,  at- 

...  iii-  1  •         taxhment, 

attaches  his  property ;  breaks  him  up  in  business ;  ruins  ruin. 
him  and  makes  him  pay  the  cost  of  the  suit.  All  tbis  :  and 
all  the  time  A  has  in  his  pocket  thousands  of  what  is  called 
money  ;  called  dollars,  but  it  will  not  pay  his  debt !  What 
man  of  reason  and  prudence  would  desire  to  be  placed  in 
such  a  position?  But  this  is  the  perilous  position  that 
millions  of  people  of  the  United  States  are  in  to-day  ! 
In  the  foregoing  illustrations  and  also  in  those  which 


6o 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


barks. 


cent. 

a    month. 


"standard     are  to   follow   immediately  here,  the   "standard  dollar" 

dollar  "    and    . 

in  silver  and  the  treasury  note,  popularly  called  "  green- 
back," are  intentionally  left  out,  because  those  two  re- 
quire special  treatment  after  we  ascertain  what  is  money 
in  the  United  States.  But  when  such  treatment  has  been 
had,  it  will  clearly  appear  that  neither  of  them  materially 
change  the  aspect  of  affairs. 

Another  illustration :  A,  although  having  plenty  of 
property,  suddenly  has  pressing  need  of  money.  He  bor- 
Ten  thou-  rows  of  B  ten  thousand  dollars  at  five  per  cent  a  month 
Vis  per  a  8  interest,  payable  in  ninety  days.  At  the  end  of  the  ninety 
days  he  wishes  to  pay  back  the  money  and  thereby  stop 
the  ruinous  interest.  He  sees  B  and  tells  him  his  desire ; 
but  B  does  not  desire  the  payment,  well  knowing  that  A's 
property  is  good  for  the  money  and  wishing  to  keep  the 
high  rate  of  interest  running.  What  can  A  do  to  rid 
himself  of  this  distressing  state  of  things?  Certainly  the 
law  must  afford  him  a  remedy !  It  is  not  possible  that 
A  must  be  compelled  to  await  B's  pleasure  and  let  the 
note  run  for  nearly  six  years  until  outlawry  is  about  to 
come  and  thereby  ruin  A  by  this  heavy  rate  of  interest. 
Think  of  it ;  ten  thousand  dollars  at  five  per  cent  a  month 
interest  would  in  five  years  amount  to  thirty  thousand 
dollars  in  interest.  A  would  thus  at  the  end  of  five 
years  owe  B  forty  thousand  dollars !  Will  A  have  to 
submit  to  this  ?  No ;  the  law  does  give  A  a  full,  com- 
plete and  effective  remedy.  But  how?  Simply  by  money, 
tender ;  that  is  the  chief  function  of  money,  to  afford  A 
the  remedy.  The  law  does  it  by  providing  some  thing,  or 
some  things,  which  A  can  take  to  B  and  thereby  pay  the 
debt,  whether  B  is  willing  or  unwilling  that  it  pay  it. 
And  whatever  thing  or  things  that  can,  in  any  land  or 
any  country,  at  any  time,  be  so  taken  is  money ;  and 
nothing  else  is  money.     It  is  the  duty  of  the  law-making 


Remedy   is 
tender :    no 
other    pos- 
sible rem- 
edy. 


What  is  Money?  61 

department  of  a  sovereignty  or  government  to  provide  Duty  of  bov- 
this  thing  or  these  things,  and  to  provide  them  in  suffi-  ereiBnty- 
cient  quantity.     And  when  the  sovereignty  has  provided 
them,   it   is   absurd   to   say   that   the   citizen   can   deprive  sovereign 
them  of  this  function.    How  absurd  to  say  that  the  citizen  "uTzen'can- 
can  demonetize  what  the  sovereign  has  monetized!     And  monetize. 
this  is  precisely  what  it  comes  to  if  the  citizen  has  the 
right  to  say  in  what  a  debt  to  him  has  to  be  paid.     Think 
of  an  enactment  of  the  Congress  declaring  that  a  citizen  congres- 
or   even    a    foreigner   has    the    right    to    demonetize    the  n""it  that* 
"standard  dollar!  "     If  the  sovereign  monetizes,  nothing  or  foreigner 
but  the  sovereign  can  demonetize ;  both  are  acts  of  sov-  eh"e  the 

standard 

ereignty.  dollar. 

In  the  case  last  mentioned,  a  lawyer  being  consulted 
would  tell  A  to  make  B  a  "  tender,"  and  if  B  accept 
it,  A  would  be  free  from  the  debt ;  but  if  B  refuse  it, 
then  B  could,  of  course,  sue  A  and  get  the  amount  of  the  Effe,.t  of 
original  claim,  ten  thousand  dollars  and  the  interest  ae-  tender- 
cruing  up  to  the  time  of  the  "  tender ; "  but  he  could 
get  no  interest  for  the  time  after  the  "  tender  "  or  any 
costs  of  suits,  but  B  would  have  to  pay  all  of  A's  costs. 
This  would  be  complete  protection  to  A  and  no  injury 
to  B.  This  is  what  money  is  for ;  and  the  citizen  has 
no  voice  in  the  matter,  even  if  there  should  be  wdiat  has 
been  called  a  "  specific  contract  "  law  on  the  statute  books. 
But  more  of  this  hereafter. 

A  further  illustration :  Suppose  A  owes  B  a  debt  of  one 
hundred  dollars  and  wishes  to  pay  the  same,  and  for 
that  purpose  offers  to  B  a  thousand  as  fine  horses  Horses. 
as  ever  fed  on  the  blue  grass  of  Kentucky.  Would 
they  pay  the  debt?  No.  B  could  sue  A  and  make  him 
pay  debt  and  costs  just  the  same  as  if  A  had  done  noth- 
ing whatever.  Suppose  A  offered  any  other  article  or  other 
commodity  in  any  amount,  would  it  or  they  pay?     No; 


62 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Cubic   yard 
of   uncoined 
gold. 


National 
bank    notes. 


it  would  be  just  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  horses. 

Lands.  Suppose  A  offered  a  deed  with  perfect  title  and  full  pos- 

session of  the  finest  and  most  valuable  block  of  buildings 
in  San  Francisco,  Chicago  or  New  York.  Would  this 
pay?  No;  no  better  than  the  horses.  Suppose  A  offered 
a  cubic  yard  of  pure  but  uncoined  gold.  Would  that 
pay  ?  No ;  no  more  than  the  others.  Lastly,  suppose 
A  offered  one  million  "  dollars "  in  national  bank 
notes  or  any  of  the  substitutes  for  money.  Would  they 
do  ?     No ;  still  no  more  effective  than  the  others. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  nothing  can  pay  a  debt  except 
legal  tender,  and  consequently  nothing  but  legal  tender 
is  money. 

Still  further  to  illustrate :  Suppose  A  for  a  valuable 
consideration  agrees  that  he,  six  months  hence,  at  some 
designated  place,  will  deliver  to  B  a  thousand  horses, 
or  indeeel  any  other  thing  or  things  except  money.  Is 
there  any  power  in  any  court  or  in  any  department 
of  the  government  to  make  him  do  it  ?  No.  "  What," 
men  have  often  said  to  the  author,  "  is  it  possible  that  the 
court  cannot  compel  him  to  comply  with  his  contract?" 
The  court  cannot ;  it  lias  no  such  power.  A  moment's 
reflection  shows  that  the  court  could  not  possibly  have 
such  power.  Suppose  A  did  not  have  the  horses  and 
could  not  get  them.  Surely  no  earthly  power  can  perform 
an  impossibility ;  and  the  proof  that  any  other  power  than 
earthly  could  would  be  very  interesting  discourse.     Then 

Remedy.  what  is  B  to  do  ?  Has  he  no  remedy  ?  Yes  ;  he  has  a 
remedy,  and  a  good  one,  too,  provided  A  has  sufficient 
property  which  "  is  not  exempt  from  execution."  It  is 
this :  B  can  sue  A  for  the  damages  that  resulted  to  B 
by  reason  of  A's  failure  to  comply  with  his  contract.  The 
jury,  provided  a  jury  is  demanded  in  the  case,  or  the 
judge,  if  no  jury  is  demanded,  will  estimate  and  deter- 


Thousand 
horses. 


Failure    to 
deliver. 


What  is  Money?  63 

mine  in  money,  in  tender,  the  amount  of  the  damages  that  Damages  in 

,.  money. 

B  has  suffered  from  As  failure  to  comply  with  Ins  con- 
tract. And  the  estimation  can  be  determined  or  made  in 
nothing  else  but  money,  tender;  it  cannot  be  in  grain, 
animals,  vegetables,  or  indeed  in  article  or  commodit)  : 
it  must  be  money,  tender,  not  in  any  one  or  more  of 
the  six  substitutes  for  money.  Then  under  the  authority 
of  the  court,  "  executions  "  will  issue  against  the  property 
of  A,  and  enough  of  A's  property  will,  under  die  author-  Property 

0  11.  sold    for 

ity  of  the  court,  be  put  up  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder  money. 
bv  public  auction  to  raise  the  amount  of  money,  tender, 
fixed  as  the  damages ;  and  this  money,  tender,  will  be 
turned  over  to  B,  and  this  pays  the  debt;  for  in  the  This  pays 
eye  of  the  law,  when  the  amount  of  the  damage  is  "  fixed  " 
by  the  judgment  of  the  court  in  money,  tender,  at  that 
moment  it  becomes  a  "  debt,"  a  "  sum  certain  "  due  by 
implied  contract.  As  the  judges  and  text-book  writers 
say,  the  law  implies  a  contract  on  the  part  of  A,  the 
defendant  in  the  case,  to  pay  the  judgment. 

True,  this  language  of  the  law  writers  is  lamentably  language 

0       °  contra- 

contradictory  to  their  definition  of  contract.  A  "  con-  dictory. 
tract,"  they  say,  is  an  "  agreement  "  between  two  or 
more  persons.  There  must  be  an  agreement,  a  meeting 
of  minds,  at  the  same  time  and  on  or  about  the  same 
thing;  a  proposition  made  on  one  side  and  accepted  on 
the  other.  To  say  that  the  judgment  of  a  court  is  a 
contract  in  the  above-mentioned  sense  is  a  striking  mis- 
nomer. There  is  no  agreement  between  a  plaintiff  and  a 
defendant  in  a  case;  on  the  contrary,  there  is  the  sharpest 
and  sternest  disagreement,  and  the  losing  party  dis- 
agrees even  with  the  court  or  jury  that  decides  the  case. 
The  author  has  long  thought  that  this  contradictory  lan- 
guage in  the  law  should  be  discarded  and  more  accurate 
and  at  least  ^incontradictory  phraseology  employed.     It  is 


64 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


believed  it  could  be  done ;  but  this  is  not  the  place  for  the 
attempt. 

A    last    illustration :    Suppose    A    through    inadvert- 
ence, negligence  or  even  malice  should  damage  B  in  a 
Tort.  manner  that  is  in  the  language  of  the  law  called  a  tort, 

that  is,  damage  arising  otherwise  than  by  breach  of  con- 
tract. For  instance,  destroy  his  property, —  say  burn  his 
house,  or  kill  his  horse,  or  assault  his  person,  in  such 
Remedy.  manner  that  the  law  gives  B  a  remedy.  Now,  what  is 
the  remedy?  Almost  precisely  as  that  in  the  last  illustra- 
tion. B  brings  suit,  and  a  jury  or  judge,  as  the  case  may 
be,  estimates  and  fixes  the  damages  in  money,  tender. 
The  same.  Judgment  is  entered  and  execution  is  issued,  and  A's 
property  is  taken  into  the  custody  of  the  law,  put  up  for 
sale  to  the  highest  bidder  until  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
the  property  is  thus  sold  to  raise  the  amount  of  the  judg- 
ment in  money,  tender ;  and  this  money,  tender,  is  handed 
over  to  A,  and  this,  as  in  the  last  illustration,  pays  the 
debt ;  for  in  this  case,  too,  the  law  calls  it  a  "  debt  "  by 
reason  of  its  being  assumed  that  there  is  an  implied 
contract  on  the  part  of  the  defendant  to  pay  the  judg- 
ment. In  this  case  it  is  to  be  observed  that  there  never 
has  been  an  agreement  between  A  and  B ;  on  the  contrary, 
there  has  been  disagreement  and  contest  all  the  time. 
viewed  from  Let  us  now  view  this  picture  from  another  point.  Sup- 
point,  pose,  as  stated  above,  that  A  damage  B  by  a  "  tort  " 
committed  through  inadvertence,  negligence  or  even 
malice ;  but  also  that  A  after  reflecting  on  his  "  inad- 
vertence," "  negligence,"  or,  in  case  of  "  malice,"  the 
"  atrocity  of  his  intended  crime,"  wishes  to  make  repara- 
tion and  thereby  free  himself  from  all  liability  in  the 
matter,  and  especially  from  paying  heavy  costs  of  suit. 
Certainly  in  morals  he  has  the  right  to  do  so,  and  he 
should  have  it  also  in  law.     But  suppose  B  is  a  "  hard 


"  Pays 
debt." 


What  is  Money?  65 

man  "  and  says,  "  No ;  he  must  pay  me  all  my  damages 
and  die  costs  of  the  suit.  I  shall  sue  him."  What  is  A 
to  do?  Must  he  wait  until  he  is  sued  and  cast  in  the 
suit,  and  then  pay  all  damages  and  the  costs  ?  No ;  the 
law  is  wise  and  fair.  He  can  do  what  in  law  is  called 
"  tender  amends,"  that  is,  offer  to  B  sufficient  money,  « Tender 
tender,  to  cover  all  the  "  damages  "  B  has  suffered  from 
A's  act ;  and  this  discharges  the  obligation.  Hence  the  Discharges 
money  is  called,  in  this  view  of  the  case,  a  discharger  °>lga 
of  obligations,  as  there  is  as  yet  no  "  debt  "  in  the  techni- 
cal sense  of  the  term,  but  rather  an  obligation  or  liability. 
True  that,  in  case  B  should  refuse  the  money,  the  tender, 
and  bring  his  suit  and  recover  judgment,  there  would 
be,  by  fiction  of  the  law,  as  soon  as  a  judgment  was  "  dock- 
eted "  against  A,  a  "  debt  "  due  from  him  to  B.  For,  in 
this  case,  as  in  a  case  stated  some  pages  back,  B  could 
get  the  amount  of  the  damages  awarded  to  him  by  the 
court ;  but  he  could  not  get  his  costs  out  of  A ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  would  have  to  pay  A's  costs  if  he  recovered 
judgment  for  no  more  than  A  tendered  to  him.  There- 
fore to  make  the  statement,  even  in  language,  as  accurate 
as  possible,  the  second  attribute  of  money  is  called  the  second  attn- 
discharger  of  obligations,  as  contradistinguished  from  the  charger  of 

u    ,   .,     „  obligations. 

narrower  term      debts. 

The  reader  is  congratulated  on  his  at  last  reaching  Reader 
the  end  of  these,  it  is  feared,  over-minute  and  elaborate  lated." 
illustrations.  They  would  have  been  much  briefer  and 
fewer  had  it  not  been  that  nearly  every  point  of  them 
has  been  hotly  contested  and  disputed  by  Gold  Solomons 
of  great  eminence  and  notoriety  in  the  politics  of  many 
States  and  by  some  of  great  eminence  in  politics  of  the 
nation.     As  a  commentary  on  the  history  of  the  times,  if  commentary 

'  ,  ,  on   history   of 

for  no  other  reason,  at  least  a  few  of  the  alleged  argu-  the  times. 
ments  with  which  Gold  Solomons  have,  in  their  own  opin- 
5 


66 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Common 
measure  of 
value. 


ion,    crushed    the    author    in    conversation   on   the    silver 
question  will  be  given. 

SECTION  IV. 

Characteristics  of  Money  :  The  Measure  of  Value 
and  the  Medium  of  Exchange. 

First  Characteristic. —  The  first  characteristic  of 
money  considered  will  be  what  is  usually  called  A  Com- 
mon Measure  of  Value ;  and  sometimes  a  Common  De- 
nominator of  Value. 

(a)  The  Common  Denominator  of  Value. —  Now 
what  is  meant  by  this  phrase,  "  Common  Measure  of 
Value  ?  "  The  solution  of  it  pierces  deep.  The  common 
view  of  it  is  inadequate,  fallacious,  misleading  and  ex- 
ceedingly mischievous ;  the  true  view  is  full,  logical,  right- 
guiding  and  very  beneficial. 

The  Standard  Dictionary  defines  "  measure "  thus : 
"  Extent,  quantity,  capacity,  value  or  dimensions  in  gen- 
eral of  anything,  as  ascertained  by  a  certain  rule  or 
standard." 

J.  Laurence  Laughlin,  Ph.  D.,  Head  Professor  of 
Political  Economy  in  the  University  of  Chicago,  as  his 
name  and  titles  appear  on  the  title  page  of  his  work 
entitled,  "  The  Elements  of  Political  Economy,"  first  pub- 
lished in  1887,  a  revised  edition  appearing  in  the  year 
1902,  in  discussing  money  as  a  measure  of  value,  says, 
"  We  ought  then  to  find  a  common  denominator  of 
His  axioms,  value ;  "  and  then  he  adds,  "First  of  all,  the  common 
denominator  of  value  must  itself  have  value,  and  gold  and 
silver  have  been  chosen  by  common  consent  for  this 
function."  Then  from  this  axiom  he  draws  the  inference 
that  "  paper  money  "  cannot  be  a  common  denominator 
of  value,   because  according  to  his   axiom  the   common 


Meaning   of 
term. 


Professor 
Laughlin. 


His  infer 
ence. 


What  is  Money?  67 

denominator  of  value  must  itself  have  value.  Then  he 
absurdly  argues  for  the  demonetization  of  silver,  one  of 
the  things  he  has  just  said  "  have  been  chosen  by  common 
consent  for  that  function ;  and  because  they  have  value 
in   themselves !  " 

A  measure  of  a  thing  must  be  of  the  same  kind  or  Measure  and 
nature  as  the  thing  measured.     Length  must  be  meas-  must  be  of 
ured  by  length,  as  a  rope  by  feet  and  inches,  a  road  by  kind. 
miles  ;  a  surface  by  surface,  as  a  tract  of  land  by  acres ; 
capacity  by  capacity,  as  tank  by  barrels  or  gallons ;  weight 
by  weight,  as  an  ox  by  the  pound ;  and  time  by  time,  as 
the  visit  to  a  friend  by  hours,  days,  weeks.     But  it  does 
not  follow  from  all  this  that  paper  money  could  not  be 
a  common  denominator  of  value ;  that  is,  in  a  country 
where  the  law  permitted  money  to  be  made  of  paper,  as 
is  the  case  in  England  but  not  in  the  United  States,  as 
will  hereafter  be  proved. 

The  writer  of  this  text  has  frequently  asked  even  Gold 
Solomons  what  is  meant  by  their  statement  that  "  money 
is  a  measure  of  value  "  and  "  money  is  a  common  de- 
nominator of  value ;  "  and  even  the  Gold  Solomons  were 
not  eminently  successful  in  their  explanations !  But  after 
fruitless  attempts  they  would  seem  to  give  up  in  despair, 
but  preserve  dignity  by  that  loftiness  of  manner  signified 
by  the  phrase  "  regarding  the  incident  as  closed."  "incident  as 

The  phrase  "  common  denominator  "  comes  to  us  from 
that  branch  of  the  science  of  mathematics  called  arith- 
metic, and  pertains  to  "  fractions."  A  fraction  is  one  Definition  of 
or  more  of  the  equal  parts  into  which  one  whole  number 
or  more  whole  numbers  of  the  same  kind  have  been 
divided.  Sufficient  for  the  purpose  here  in  mind  to  say 
that  a  fraction  has  two  parts,  a  numerator  and  a  denom- 
inator. The  denominator  denominates  or  names  the  frac- 
tion.    The  word  etymologically  considered   comes   from 


68  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  Latin,  de  (from)  and  nomen  (name), —  in  the  ab- 
lative case  it  is  nomine.  Divide  any  object,  say,  an 
apple,  into  equal  parts,  and  thus  make  fractions  of  it ;  not 
into  unequal  parts,  for  that  would  be  making  it  mere 
fragments.  If  the  apple  be  divided  into  two  equal  parts, 
what  would  each  part  be  called?  What  would  it  be 
named?  What  would  it  be  denominated  {de  nomine)? 
What  denominator  of  the  fraction  given?  Each  part 
would  be  called  a  half ;  that  would  be  the  name  of  the 
part,  and  the  denominator  of  the  fraction  would  be  "  2," 
signifying  the  fraction's  name,  halves,  and  the  numerator 
of  the  fraction  would  be  "  1,"  because  that  numerates,  or 
numbers,  the  parts  of  the  apple  after  its  division.  And 
so  on,  if  divided  into  thirds,  fourths,  or  fifths,  etc.,  the 
denominators  would  be  two,  three,  four,  five,  etc. 

Suppose  we  take  the  fractions  |,  f ,  f.  Each  of  these 
has  a  denominator;  that  of  the  first  one  is  2;  that 
of  the  second,  3  ;  and  that  of  the  third,  4 ;  but  there  does 
not  yet  appear  a  denominator  that  is  common  to  all 
three  of  the  fractions,  to  wit,  the  1  the  f,  and  the  f . 
Can  one  be  obtained  ?  — Yes.  How  ?  —  By  simply  chang- 
ing the  name  of  each  fraction  without  changing  its  value, 
denominating  it  differently.  Converting  or  changing  i 
into  ^2  does  not  change  its  value,  because  T6^  equals  \-t 
in  mathematical  language  r6o  =  \.  Changing  §  into  T82 
does  not  change  its  value,  because  T8¥  equals  f  ;  mathe- 
matice ,  i%=f ;  and  changing  f  into  ^  does  not  change 
its  value,  because  yV  equals  f;  mathematice,  tV  — J. 

There  is  something  very  analogous  to  this  in  money, 

and  it  is  designated  by  calling  it  the  common  denominator 

iiiustra-        of  value,  or  values.     It  may  perhaps  be  illustrated  thus : 

tions:     sheep,  0  .  ...  . 

hogs,  cows,    Suppose  one  hog  equals  in  value  two  sheep ;  one  cow  two 

hox-ses.  .  ,  . 

hogs ;  and  one  horse  two  cows.  Mathematice,  one 
(horse)    equals    two    (cows)  ;    one    (cow)    equals    two 


What  is  Money?  69 

(hogs)  ;  and  one  (hog)  equals  two  (sheep).  Here  horses 
measure  cows,  and  cows  measure  horses ;  cows  measure 
hogs,  and  hogs  measure  cows  ;  therefore,  horses  measure 
hogs,  and  hogs  measure  horses  ;  and  hogs  measure  sheep, 
and  sheep  measure  hogs  ;  therefore  horses  measure  sheep, 
and  sheep  measure  horses.  In  all  these  cases,  horses, 
cows,  hogs  and  sheep  mutually  measure  each  other. 

But  suppose  we  can  get  the  value  or  measure  of  any  of 
these  things  in  money,  then  we  can  get  the  measure  of  all 
in  money.  Assuming  a  sheep  to  be  of  the  measure  of  a 
dollar,  or,  in  common  language,  "  worth  a  dollar,"  then 
a  hog  would  be  of  the  value  of  two  dollars ;  a  cow,  four 
dollars ;  and  a  horse,  eight  dollars.  Thus  we  see  that 
dollars  is  the  measure  common  to  sheep,  hogs,  cows  and 
horses.  And  so  it  might  be  on  through  the  entire  list  of 
commodities  and  lands ;  indeed,  all  things  which  are 
bought  and  sold  in  the  market  or  business  of  the  world. 
Keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that  in  fractions  the  denom- 
inators denote  division ;  thus,  in  §  the  denominator  3 
shows  that  some  thing,  say  an  apple,  has  been  divided 
into  3  parts,  and  in  |  that  the  thing  has  been  divided 
into  4  parts,  and  so  on  for  any  number ;  perhaps  it  may 
be,  even  though  somewhat  awkwardly,  expressed,  rather 
roughly  indicated,  mathematicc  thus  :  — 

sheep  hogs  cows  horses 

dollars  dollars  dollars         dollars 

In  each  case  "  dollars  "  names,  or  denominates,  the  value 
of  the  commodity,  the  sheep,  the  hog,  the  cow,  or  the 
horse ;  it  is  the  name  common  to  all  to  express  their  value. 
Of  course,  it  is  not  claimed  that  the  foregoing  is  ex- 
pressed in  rigid  and  perfectly  accurate  mathematical 
language,  but  it  is  hoped  it  may  aid  in  getting  a  clearer 
notion  of  monev  as  a  common  denominator  of  value. 


jo  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Perhaps  the  matter  may  be  made  a  little  clearer  by  the 
following :  — 

Sheep  divided  by  dollars  gives  dollars  as  a  quotient; 
hogs  divided  by  dollars  gives  dollars  as  a  quotient ;  cows 
divided  by  dollars  gives  dollars  as  a  quotient ;  and  horses 
divided  by  dollars  gives  dollars  as  a  quotient.  Mathe- 
matice :  — 

Sheep  -f-  dollars  =  dollars  ;  hogs  -f-  dollars  =  dollars  ; 
cows  -r-  dollars  =  dollars  ;  and  horses  —■  dollars  =  dollars. 

Again,  in  the  case  put  on  page  69,  suppose  it  be  assumed 
that  one  sheep  is  of  the  value  of  two  dollars  instead  of  one 
dollar ;  a  hog,  four  dollars ;  a  cow,  eight  dollars ;  and  a 
horse,  sixteen  dollars. 

Then  specifically,  one  (1)  sheep  is  divided  into  two  (2) 
dollars;  one  (1)  hog  into  four  (4)  dollars;  one  (1)  cow 
into  eight  (8)  dollars  ;  and  one  (1)  horse  into  sixteen  (16) 
dollars.     Mathematice,  thus  :  — 

1  sheep  -r-  $1  =  $2  ;  1  hog-^$i=$4;  1  cow-=-$i  = 
$8;  and  1  horse -=- $1  =  $16;  or  — 

$1  is  the  common  denominator  of  sheep,  hog,  cow  and 
horse  ;  or  again  — 

sheep  hog  cow  horse 


$1.00         $1.00         $1.00         $1.00 


;  or  lastly 


1  sheep   #  1   hog     ^  i  cow     tf0 

— =   $2.00:  — —   S4.00;  -; —   $8.00; 

$I.OO  j^~.ww  ,  $1.00  ^~  •  J1.00 

1     1    horse   <*    c 

and  -£zr  ~  #16.00. 

In  estimating  the  accuracy,  clearness  and  utility  of  the 
foregoing  attempt  at  mathematical  illustration,  it  should 
by  the  reader  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  phrase,  "  Money 
Not  the  in- a  common  denominator  of  value,"  is  not  the  invention  of 
the  author,  the  author,  but  that  of  the  "  economists,"  and  that  he  was 
merely  endeavoring  to  throw  some  light  on  a  subject 
which,   from   conversations   with   Gold   Solomons,   Spell- 


What  is  Money?  71 

binders  and  others,  he  found  somewhat  obscure  to  them, 
and  generally  misunderstood.  He  hopes  that  some  little 
light  has  been  shed  on  the  subject,  and  also  that  a  little 
more  may  be  by  the  statement  that,  after  all,  the  phrase, 
"  Money  is  a  common  denominator  of  value,"  may  be 
regarded  as  metaphorical,  the  simile  involved  being,  matli- 
ematice,  thus :  — 

Common  denominator :  fractions  :  :  money :  value.  statement 

And  it  may  be  expanded  thus :   as  a  common  denominator  tion. 
is  to  fractions  so  is  money  to  value,  or  values. 

Perhaps  the  thought  may  arise,  Why  was  it  necessary 
to  change  the  supposititious  value  of  the  sheep  from  one 
dollar  in  the  first  statement  of  the  case  into  two  dollars 
in  the  second  ?  The  reason  was  this :  to  avoid  a  mathe- 
matical difficulty,  yea,  absurditv ;  however,  an  absurdity  Mathemat- 

.  ~      Jcal     absurd- 

generally  stated  in  mathematical  works,  and  without  apol-  "y- 
ogy  or  blush,  and  it  was  feared  if  such  absurdity  appeared 
here,   the   Gold   Solomons  and    Spellbinders  might   seize 
thereon  for  unwise  and  other  "  campaign  "  purposes. 
This  is  the  absurdity,  in  the  instances  stated,  to  wit, 

sheep  hog  cow  „«-,.J  horse. 


and 


$1.00  $1.00  $1.00  $1.00 

it  might  have  been  very  well,  while  the  horse, 
valued  at  $8,  cow  at  $4  and  the  hog  at  $2,  were 
under  consideration ;  but  when  the  sheep  valued  at  $1 
came,  there  would  be  trouble.  It  perhaps  might,  with 
some  kind  of  mathematical  propriety,  or  at  least  analogy, 
be  said  that  the  horse  of  the  value  of  $8  was  divided  into 
eight  parts,  each  part  of  the  value  of  $1  ;  but  how  in 
the  name  of  all  the  Silver  Lunatics  and  Gold  Solomons 
could  it  be  said  that  one  sheep  of  the  value  of  $1  was 
divided  at  all  ?  He  still  remained  one  sheep ;  he  surely 
never  was  divided  into  anything  until  the  butcher  got  him, 
and  not  into  dollars  or  fractions  then,  but  into  chops,  etc. ! 


72  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

But  suppose  the  Silver  Lunatic  in  his  death  struggle 
with  the  Spellbinder  and  the  Gold  Solomon  had  tim- 
idly ventured  to  suggest  that  it  did  not  mean  that  it  was 
practicable,  that  it  could  really  be  done,  but  merely  in  a 
Pickwickian  sense,  as  it  were, —  the  same  as  the  math- 
ematical books  say  that  I  -~-  o  =  <» ,  which,  translated 
into  the  vernacular,  means  that  one  divided  by  zero  equals 
infinity ! 

Then  Spellbinder  and  Gold  Solomon  would  roar  out 
like  bulls  of  Bashan,  and  scare  poor  Silver  Lunatic  out  of 
his  sixth  (and  mathematical)  sense,  saying,  "  Why,  you 
stupid  little  Argentarius  Lunaticus,  do  you  not  know  that 
that  is  not  only  impossible,  but  leads  to  the  wildest  and 
most  absurd  conclusions?"  Formally  stated  now  in 
Spellbinder  and  Gold  Solomon  jargon,  the  objections 
are   as    follows  :  — 

(i)  The  thing  is  impossible.  How  can  zero,  naught, 
mere  nothing,  divide  ?  Nothing  can  do  nothing  — "  do  " 
division  or  anything  else.  (2)  Even  if  zero,  naught, 
mere  nothing,  could  divide,  how  could  it  ever  live  long 
enough  to  divide  infinitely  ?  Just  to  think ;  it,  the  little 
zero,  naught,  mere  nothing,  could  beat  a  million,  for  if  a 
million  divides  a  number,  it  could  not  make  infinity  as  a 
quotient,  and  you  say  that  zero  could.  It  is  absurd ! 
And  (3)  if  all  these  absurdities  could  be  gotten  over  and 
answered,  then  the  greatest  of  all  would  still  stare  you  in 
the  face,  yes,  stare  you  right  in  the  face,  to  wit :  Now,  if 

1  +  0  =  go     one  divided  by  zero  equals  infinity   ( 1  -r-  O  =  0= ) ,  would 

2  +  0  =  oo     you  not  say  also  that  two  divided  by  zero  likewise  equals 

infinity?  Would  you  not  say  that?  Silver  Lunatic, 
loquitur:  "  Yes,  I  would  also  say  that."  Spellbinder 
and  Gold  Solomon,  loquntur:  "  Would  you  also  say  that 
34-0=  co  three  divided  by  zero  equals  infinity  (3-^-0=^)? 
Silver  Lunatic,  loq.:  "I   would  say  that."     Spellbinder 


What  is  Money?  73 

and  Gold  Solomon,  loq.:  "And  a  million?"  Silver 
Lunatic,  loq.:  "Yes,  a  million!"  Spellbinder  and  Gold  1,000,000 -=- 
Solomon,  loq.:  ;'  Now,  just  see  what  you  have  come 
to!  Suppose  you  will  also  admit  now  a  rule  of  mathe- 
matics universally  accepted  as  true  by  all  mathe- 
maticians? But  even  that,  too,  is  doubtful,  since  you 
Silver  Lunatics  are  so  besotted  in  your  ignorance  that  you 
dare  to  deny  the  right,  yea,  the  '  divine  right,'  of  the  Gold 
Solomons  to  rule  the  world ;  yes,  '  divine  right,'  because  Divine 

...  T      right. 

did  not  God  give  it  to  them,  and  that  is  by  divine  right.  It 
is  just,  right  and  fair,  too,  that  the  Gold  Solomons  —  the 
men  of  money  —  should  rule  the  world,  by  dictating  the 
legislation  on  money,  because  they  understand  that  sub- 
ject. But  will  you,  sirrah,  admit  the  rule,  the  axiom  of 
mathematics,  that  things  that  are  equal  to  the  same  thing 
are  equal  to  each  other?  Will  you  admit  that?"  Silver 
Lunatic  speaks,  and  even  with  a  little  rising  of  courage: 
"  You  put  a  question  that  seems  to  involve  two  points,  as 
most  pettifoggers  do,  designing  to  produce  confusion,  and 
fog  and  mist.  The  first  seems  to  be  the  right  of  the  Gold 
Solomons  to  dictate  the  legislation  on  money,  and  the  sec- 
ond is  your  mathematical  axiom.  The  first  I  deny,  because 
it  involves  the  right  of  the  burglar  to  dictate  the  legislation 
on  burglary,  for  do  not  the  burglar  and  the  banker  go 
each  into  his  work  with  the  same  general  motive,  to  make 
money?  Does  either  go  in  for  charity,  benevolence  or 
religion?  And  each  going  in  with  the  selfish  motive  of 
making  money,  each  would,  if  permitted  to  dictate  the  leg-  Bankers  dic 
islation  pertaining  to  his  business,  shape  the  legislation  to  legislation 
his  own  selfish  ends.  No ;  better  to  let  all  the  rascals, — 
burglars,  bankers,  lawyers,  judges,  doctors,  clergymen, 
carpenters,  blacksmiths,  farmers,  mechanics,  railroaders, 
butchers,  bakers,  et  id  omiic  genus,  in  short,  even  the  Gold 
Solomons  and   Silver   Lunatics, —  go  in   and  watch   each 


74  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

taw  of  the  other.     Look  at  the  laws  of  some  Christian  lands  when 

nobility. 

the  nobility  enacted  them.  Nobility  —  abuse  of  that  en- 
dearing term,  noble ;  ever  is  it  that  the  doer  of  bad  deeds 
seeks  to  cover  them  under  attractive  names.  In  England, 
according  to  Lord  Holland,  there  were,  as  late  as  1810, 
two  hundred  and  thirty-eight  (238),  if  memory  serves 
correctly,  distinct  offenses  for  which  the  punishment  was 
death.  In  some  countries  it  was  the  right  ("  divine  right," 
was  it?)  of  the  noble  lord  to  sleep  with  the  daughter 
of  his  tenant  the  first  night  after  her  marriage.  Look  also 
at  the  penalty,  and  reason  given  therefor,  for  the  offense 
of  a  Christian  man  having  sexual  intercourse  with  a  Jew- 
ish woman,  to  wit,  "  sexual  intercourse  between  a  Chris- 
crimes  and   tian  man  and  a  Jewess  was  deemed  a  crime  against  nature, 

punishments.  .  .  .  . 

and  was  punishable  with  death  by  burning.  Quia  est  rem 
habere  emu  cane,  rem  habere  a  Christiano  cum  Judaea 
quae  cauis  reputatur;  sic  comburi  debet ?  Rather  would  I 
trust  the  whole  people  to  make  the  laws  on  all  subjects 
class-law  than  to  any  class  of  them  to  make  the  laws  on  subjects 
appertaining  to  their  own  class,  or  to  those  appertaining 
to  any  other  special  class,  or  the  laws  generally,  even  if 
that  class  were  the  nobility  or  the  Gold  Solomons.  If  all 
men  will  not  be  generous,  benevolent  and  unselfish  (if 
they  were  so,  all  laws  and  other  acts  would  be  good  and 
serviceable),  it  is  better,  as  stated  above,  to  let  all  the  ras- 
cals watch  each  other. 

"  O,  ye  Gold  Solomons,  pardon  me,  but  '  I  was  run 
away  with.' 

"  Now  to  the  second  point  of  your  question,  to  wit,  the 
mathematical  axiom  that  things  that  are  equal  to  the 
same  thing  are  equal  to  each  other.     I  admit  that." 

Spellbinder  and  Gold  Solomons  speak :  '  Well,  you 
do,  do  you?  Then  we  shall  not  deign  to  notice  your 
tirade  against  us  nobility,  but  proceed  at  once  to  show  the 


1  =2! 


What  is  Money?  75 

absurdity  in  which  you  have  involved  yourself,  trusting 
that  it  may  teach  you  humility  and  modesty,  and  withal 
better  manners  than  to  be  attacking  your  betters  —  us 
nobility ;  better  manners  than  to  blackguard  your  betters. 
Then  if  one  divided  by  zero  equals  infinity  (mathematice, 
1  -r-  o  =  e/>  ) ,  and  two  divided  by  zero  equals  infinity 
also  (mathematice,  2-f-o  =  =oo),  then,  according  to  our 
axiom,  things  that  are  equal  to  the  same  thing  are  equal 
to  each  other,  one  equals  two  {mathematice,  1=2)! 

"  Again,  if  one  divided  by  zero  equals  infinity  (mathe- 
matice, 1  -=-o=os),  and  three  divided  by  zero  equals 
likewise  infinity  (mathematice,  3-^-0=  e/>),  then,  ac- 
cording to  the  axiom,  one  equals  three!  1  =  3;; 

"  Lastly,  if  one  divided  by  zero  equals  infinity  (mathe- 
matice,   ( I  -T-  O  =  •  c»  ) ,    and   a   million    divided    by    zero 
equals  infinity,  too,  then,  according  to  the  axiom,  one  is  i  =  1,000,- 
equal  to  a  million ! 

"  And  so  on  for  any  sum  to  multi-millions.     And  thus 
you  would  make  the  poor,  little  miserable,  '  measly,'  Silver  climax. 
Lunatic  equal  in  the  sight  of  Infinity,  the  infinite  God, 
to   the   multi-millionaire.      What   a    blasphemy !      Shame 
on  you,  shame  on  you !  " 

Let  it  not  be  understood  from  the  foregoing  that  the 
author  has,  by  the  lips  of  Silver  Lunatics,  attacked  either 
mathematics  or  the  mathematicians.  Such  is  not  the  case. 
First,  it  is  the  Gold  Solomons  that  speak.  Second,  it 
merely  shows  that  when  a  discussion  touches  upon  the 
infinite,  the  infinite  in  any  respect,  even  in  mathematics, 
man's  faculties  fail  him.  There  one  day  is  as  a  thousand 
years,  and  a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day  —  one  equals 
infinity  (i  =  o»).  Should  the  author's  views,  limited 
and  imperfect  as  they  are,  be  attacked  for  this  reason,  then 
it  may  be  supposed  that  the  mathematician  would  break  a 
lance  in  his  defense.      It  shows,  too,   that  all  argument 


76 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


"  Tiat 

money. 


Sublime 
language. 


and  reasoning,  discourse  of  every  kind,  is  subject  to  the 
imperfection  of  the  human  language.  The  language  of 
man  is  indeed  a  wonderful  thing,  but  his  shortcomings 
here  too  may  teach  the  sublime  virtue  of  humility. 

"  But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing,  that 
one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thou- 
sand years  as  one  day."    2  Peter  3:  8. 

And  it  is  clear  that  money  gets  its  power  to  be  the 
common  denominator  of  value  from  its  obligation-dis- 
charging power  and  its  debt-paying  power,  and  both  the 
two  powers  come  from  its  being  the  "  legal-tender " 
power,  and  the  "  legal-tender  "  power  comes  from  the  law 
and  the  law  alone.  Hence  all  money  is  made  by  mandate 
of  the  law,  the  fiat  of  the  law,  and  is  therefore  "  fiat  " 
money.  There  cannot  possibly  be  any  money  but  "  fiat  " 
money,  Gold  Solomons  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
Think  of  the  ridicule  that  has  been  cast  upon  Silver  Lun- 
atics for  their  "  fiat  "  money,  as  if  there  could  be  any 
money  but  fiat  money !  Fiat  is  a  word  from  the  Latin 
language,  meaning,  "  let  be  made."  The  sublime  language 
of  the  Almighty  recorded  for  the  whole  earth  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  book  of  B'reshith,  is,  according  to  the  Vul- 
gate :  — 

"  Dixitque  Dens:  fiat  lux.  Et  facta  est  lux.  Et  vidit 
Deits  lucem  quod  esset  bona.  Et  divisit  lucem  a  tenebris. 
Appellavitque  lucent  Diem,  et  tcnebras  Xoctein."  Gen- 
csis  1:3-5. 

["And  God  said:  Let  light  be  made.  And  light  was 
made.  (In  the  English  Version  it  is,  'And  God  said,  Let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light.')  And  God  saw  the 
light  that  it  was  good.  And  he  divided  the  light  from  the 
darkness.  And  God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  dark- 
ness he  called  Night." 

In  the  august  scene  above  narrated,  in  the  sublime  Ian- 


What  is  Money?  77 

guage  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  no  one,  it  is  believed, 
feels  greater  admiration  and  awe  than  the  author,  or  with 
deeper  reverence  and  awe  prostrates  himself  in  worship 
before  the  Author  of  created  light ;  and  although  it  is, 
indeed,  comparing  things  smaller,  and  yet  those  things 
of  immense  import  to  the  American  people,  to  things  the 
greatest,  yet  it  is  hoped  and  believed  that  there  is  not  even 
the  appearance  of  irreverence  or  lightness  in  illustrating 
the  great  act  of  the  framers  in  creating  money  by  the 
august  scene  above  so  sublimely  stated.  Therefore  with 
no  irreverence  may  it  be  said :  — 

So  the  carefully  weighed  language  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution was,  by  its  wise  framers,  put  therein,  and  by  the 
whole  people  of  the  United  States  adopted  for  the  whole 
people  of  the  United  States,  Let  gold  and  silver  be  made 
money,  and  gold  and  silver  were  made  money;  Let  gold 
coin  and  silver  coin  be  money,  and  gold  coin  and  silver 
coin  were  money.     The  fiat,  and  the  fiat  alone,  did  it. 

See  the  analogy  in  verse  4:  "And  God  saw  the  light 
that  it  was  good."  So  here.  The  sovereign,  the  people, 
saw  the  money  of  the  Constitution,  the  gold  coin  and  the 
silver  coin,  that  they  were  good.  "And  He  divided  the 
light  from  the  darkness."  So  here,  the  framers  divided 
the  money  from  the  things  that  were  not  money. 

Verse  5  :  "And  God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  dark- 
ness he  called  Night."  So  here,  the  wise  framers  called 
the  gold  coins  and  the  silver  coins  money.  And  they  did 
not  call  other  things  money,  because  other  things  were 
not  money.  God  gave  suitable  names,  to  wit,  the  Light 
and  Darkness.  So  the  wise  framers  gave  the  gold  coins 
and  the  silver  coins  a  suitable  name.  Money.  But  the 
usurpers  confound  the  darkness  with  light ;  they  call  other 
things  than  gold  coins  and  silver  coins  money ;  yea,  they 
even  call  bits  of  paper  money. 


78  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Whenever  the  day  comes  that  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  will  do  their  sworn  duty  under  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, it  will  take  a  higher  authority  than  the  usurped 
power  of  the  Congress  to  unmonetize,  demonetize,  either 
gold  coin  or  silver  coin.  But  of  that,  more  anon.  So 
much  for  money  as  the  common  denominator  of  value. 
Let  us  examine  it  now  as  — 

(b)  The  Common  Measure  of  Value. —  In  what 
sense  is  money  the  "common  measure  of  value"?  It  is, 
when  properly  understood  and  defined,  the  common 
measure  of  value,  but  not  as  misunderstood  and  so  defined 
by  the  Gold  Solomons.  For  they  and  the  accredited  politi- 
cal economists  —  in  the  day's  phrase  of  fashion,  "  econ- 
omists " —  define  "  money  "  as  a  "  measure  of  value,"  and 
say  whatever  measures  value  is  money.  This  has  already 
been  shown  to  be  untrue.    See  pages  49  and  50. 

For  it  was  there  shown  that  any  commodity  measures 
value,  even  land,  since  the  law  now  makes  land  a  com- 
modity. It  would  indeed  seem  impossible  that  any  sane 
mind  could  so  claim,  but  nevertheless  it  is  so,  as  the  fol- 
lowing, selected  from  many  similar  incidents  in  the 
An  incident,  author's  experience  will  show.  During  the  first  contest 
for  the  presidency  between  Mr.  McKinley  and  Mr.  Bryan, 
the  author  was  going  from  Nevada  to  California.  In  the 
smoker  one  morning  a  conversation  arose  between  three 
gentlemen  and  himself  on  the  political  topics  of  the  day. 
Of  course  the  "  silver  question  "  came  in.  Opinions  were 
expressed,  certainly  in  a  most  friendly  manner,  indeed ; 
but  they  were  contradictory  and  emphatic.  The  three 
gentlemen,  it  is  believed  as  intelligent  men  as  can  be 
found  in  any  State  of  the  American  Union,  expressed 
their  definition  of  money,  the  same  that  has  been  herein 
discussed,  that  of  the  economists  and  the  campaign  Spell- 
binders, namely,   "  Money  is  a  measure  of  value.     The 


What  is  Money?  79 

definition  was  attacked  by  the  line  of  argument  hereinbe- 
fore given,  the  author's  old  pocketknife  and  a  cigarcase  oid  pocket- 
belonging  to  one  of  the  gentlemen  being  used  instead  cigarcase. 
of  cow  and  horse,  as  in  the  argument  before  given. 
When  it  conclusively  appeared  that  the  old  pocketknife 
fulfilled  every  function  of  money  according  to  their  defini- 
tion of  it,  then  each  one  of  them  held  steadfastly  to  his 
definition,  and  said  the  old  pocketknife  was  money !  The 
author  said,  "  Gentlemen,  if  that  is  the  case,  I  am  defeated  ; 
the  victory  is  yours.  I  crown  the  brow  of  each  of  you 
with  the  laurel  of  intellectual  victory,  and  I  retire  a  sadder 
but  wiser  man.  When  you  say  that  my  old  pocketknife 
here  is  money,  I  feel  as  helpless  to  make  response  to  you 
as  if  you  were  to  say  to  me,  "  This  is  dark  midnight,  and 
we  cannot  see  you,  and  you  cannot  see  us.  Helpless, 
helpless  am  I !  "  A  pause  of  some  duration  occurred. 
Then  one  of  the  gentlemen  said,  "  Let  us  admit  for  the 
sake  of  argument  only  that  the  pocketknife  is  not  money, 
and  hear  your  view."  The  answer  was :  "  No,  I  never 
danced  a  tight  rope  for  any  audience  yet,  and  I  cannot 
begin  it  now."  Finally,  after  reflection,  one  of  the  gen- 
tlemen said,  "  I  will  admit  the  pocketknife  is  not  money ; 
it  is  not  money,  and  I  will  admit  it,  not  only  for  the  sake  of 
argument,  but  also  for  all  purposes."  The  answer  :  "  Then 
I  could  argue  with  you."  Soon  the  second  gentleman 
made  a  statement  similar  to  that  made  by  the  first,  and 
received  similar  answer.  The  third  gentleman  still  re- 
mained silent.  At  length  this :  The  Author. — "  Well, 
sir,  your  two  comrades  have  deserted  you  on  the 
battlefield.  Do  you  still  maintain  the  contest  solitary 
and  alone,  claiming  all  the  honor  of  your  victory 
for  your  own  famed  brow?"  He  answered,  ''Well,  no, 
the  knife  is  not  money,  and  1  will  admit  it."  Then  the 
argument  proceeded.     At  its  end  the  three  were  silenced. 


8o 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


The  Gold 
Solomon's 
money. 


Photograph 
of    knife. 


At  parting  with  them,  the  man  who  held  out  the  longest 
for  the  contention  that  the  knife  was  money,  said,  "  Yon 
ought  to  write  a  book  on  this  subject,  and  if  you  should 
do  so,  I  assure  you  that  I  shall  buy  a  copy."  Reflecting 
on  the  occurrence  a  half  hour  after,  in  crossing  the  bay 
from  Oakland  to  San  kiancisco,  the  author  said,  "  Such 
ignorance  on  so  important  a  matter  is  astounding  and 
appalling.  The  book  ought  indeed  to  be  written,  and  I 
shall  endeavor  to  write  it."  That  was  in  June,  1896,  and 
not  until  now,  October,  1902,  has  opportunity  come  to 
write,  so  great  has  been  the  restraint  of  '  Theages's 
bridle  "  upon  the  author. 

The  identical  old  pocketknife  used  on  the  occasion  men- 
tioned has  been  laid  away  in  a  cabinet  of  curios  "  for  the 
benefit  of  future  generations,"  labeled  thus :  — 

"  THE  GOLD  SOLOMONS'  MONEY  !  " 


The  reader  may  suppose  that  the  foregoing  is  wholly 
or  in  part  imaginary  ;  but  it  is  true,  and  repeated  as  ac- 


What  is  Money?  81 

curately,  and  even  literally,  as  it  is  possible  for  memory 
to  recall.  This  and  other  incidents  that  might  seem  out 
of  place  in  a  work  of  the  nature  of  the  one  in  hand,  are 
introduced,  among  other  purposes,  for  this,  to  show  that 
in  America  during-  what  is  usually  termed  a  political 
campaign  men  stop, —  or  rather,  to  nse  the  original,  not 
the  usually  translated  phrasing  of  the  old  Hebrew  Bible, 
refuse  to  "unstop," — their  ears  and  to  "uncover,"  not  "Unstop" 

ears. 

"open,"  their  eyes  to  new  thoughts  and  arguments,  as  "Uncover" 
men  in  troublous  times  lock  and  bar  their  doors  and  win- 
dows lest  thieves  and  robbers  break  in.  But  they  should 
likewise  remember  that  though  they  may  occasionally,  by 
thus  acting,  keep  out  a  thief  or  robber,  they  will  also  keep 
out  the  friends  and  neighbors  who  make  cheerful  and  safe 
the  hearthstone,  and  keep  out  also  the  bright  beams  of 
Apollo,  the  god  of  day,  the  blessed  sunshine  that  illumines, 
warms  and  comforts.  Certainly  the  dark  chambers  of  the 
human  soul  are  in  need  of  the  friends,  the  neighbors  and 
the  light  to  cheer,  comfort  and  guide. 

Please  to  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  these  gentlemen, 
intelligent  though  they  were,  contended,  as  numbers  of 
others  have  contended,  rather  than  abandon  their  "  def- 
inition," that  anything  that  can  be  exchanged  for  some 
other  thing,  even  an  old  pocketknife,  is  money. 

Another  Incident. —  Let  us  see  some  of  the  other 
thing's  that  have  been  claimed  to  be  money.  And  here 
again  it  is  believed  that  an  incident  among  many  in  the 
experience  of  the  author  would  best  illustrate  and  explain. 
In  a  conversation  with  a  gentleman  who  was  a  Spell- 
binder on  the  Republican  side  in  the  last  campaign  be- 
tween Mr.  Bryan  and  Mr.  McKinley,  and  who  was  sent 
out  to  the  West  to  teach  the  benighted  there  how  to  vote  Benighted 
on  the  money  question,  and  who  exhibited  letters  from 
the  "  National  Committee  "  thanking  him  for  his  very 
6 


82  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

efficient  and  able  efforts,  and  indeed  attributing  a  large 
part  of  the  success  of  the  party  to  those  efforts,  the  fol- 
lowing occurred :  — 

Author.  —  "Question:  What  is  money?"  Spell- 
binder.—  Answer :  "  Money  is  anything  that  circulates 
from  hand  to  hand  in  the  business  of  the  country." 
Author :  "  But  checks,  gold  certificates,  silver  certificates 
and  so  forth  circulate  in  this  country,  and  are  they 
money  ?  "  Spellbinder :  "  Yes,  anything  issued  under 
any  law  of  the  United  States  government  is  money." 
Author:  "Would  that  include  demonetized  silver  coin, 
silver  certificates,  gold  certificates,  treasury  certificates, 
national  bank  notes  and  government  bonds?"  Spell- 
binder (unabashed  and  with  emphasis)  :  '  Yes." 
Author :  "  And  are  they  tender  also  ? "  Spellbinder 
(triumphantly)  :  "Yes,  they  are  full  legal  tender  to  any 
amount.  As  I  before  stated,  anything  issued  under  any 
law  of  the  United  States  government  is  legal  tender  to 
any  amount." 

Here  the  conversation  ended,  the  countenance  of  the 
Spellbinder   beaming    with    an    air    of    victory    and    tri- 
umph, and  that  of  the  author  clouded  by  the  thought 
that  here,  as  in  so  many  cases  among  those  in  high  place 
mountain  of  and  favor,  the  mountain  of  prejudice  was  too  high  to  pass 
wall   of '  ig-and  the  wall  of  ignorance  too  thick  for  reason  to  penetrate. 
These  are  two  of  the  definitions  of  money :    one  broad 
and  all  engulfing,  anything ;  the  other  more  narrow,  but 
certainly  breezy.     Let  us  touch  upon  a  few  others.     A 
glance  at  page  45  of  this  book  will  show  that  Professor 
Be"fhcom-     Laughlin  says,  "  Money  is  a  road."     The  best  comment 
on  this  is  simply  to  print  it ! 

During  the  campaign  of  1896,  the  Hon.  Thomas 
Hon.  Thoma8  Brackett  Reed,  who  for  a  long  time  occupied  the  second 
Keed.e  highest  position  in  the  government  of  the  United  States, 


aorauie. 


Professor 
Laug 
Best 
ment 


What  is  Money?  83 

to  wit,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  was 
sent  by  the  "  National  Committee,"  or  at  least  he  came 
to  the  West  to  teach  the  unlettered  denizens  of  California 
and  those  of  Oregon  how  to  vote  on  the  silver  question. 
His  first  appearance  was  in  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  There 
he  told  an  admiring  audience  what  money  was,  and  how 
they  should  vote  on  it.  He  said  they  had  just  then  had 
an  election  "  down  in  Maine,"  in  which  he  had  taken  part, 
and  told  them  down  there  what  money  was,  and  that 
money  was  a  wagon  !  He  said  money  was  a  hayrack,  and.  ••  Hayrack  " 
of  course,  everyone  knows  that  a  hayrack  is  a  kind  of  a  "ago1 
wagon,  a  wagon  for  hauling  hay.  He  pictured  in  glow- 
ing colors  how  the  "  down-east  "  farmers  threw  up  their 
pitchforks  in  gleeful  joy  when  they  at  last  got  to  the  pro- 
found thought  that  money  was  a  hayrack,  that  this  came 
home  to  their  hearts,  homes,  haystacks  and  pitchforks, 
and  that  the  victory  that  they  rolled  up  for  the  grand 
old  party  at  the  ensuing  election  was  glorious  indeed. 

Some  months  after  the  election,  in  which  McKinley,  the 
Gold  Solomons  and  gold  were  triumphant,  and  Bryan, 
the  Silver  Lunatics  and  silver  were  overthrown,  the 
author  was  111  San  Francisco,  and  fell  into  conversation 
with  an  old  and  very  dear  friend  of  his,  a  gentleman  from 
Maine,  and,  by  the  way,  a  Republican.  His  friend  ex- 
pressed great  joy  that  California  and  Oregon  had  gone 
Republican,  and  that  silver  was  defeated.  The  author 
told  the  matters  above  stated,  and  then  said  to  his  friend : 
"  Fred,  when  I  first  read  in  the  papers  Speaker  Reed's 
financial  philosophy  and  the  glorious  deeds  of  those 
'  down-easters,'  I  said  to  myself,  Well,  Maine  is  surely 
the  Boeotia  of  America ;  but  when  a  few  weeks  after  I  The  Boeotia 
saw  that  California  and  Oregon  had  followed  the  '  down- 
easters,'  I  said,  Indeed,  America  has  two  Boeotias,  one  in  t»vo 
its  northeast  and  the  other  in  its  northwest  corner.     But 


84  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

subsequently,  when  I  saw  the  victory  of  the  Gold  Sol- 
omons over  the  whole  country,  I  thought  the  whole  land 
of  Uncle  Sam,  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  Great  Lakes 
one  va*t       to  the  Gulf,  was  one  vast  Boeotia,  except  Nevada   (here 
cept,  '  he  was  interrupted,  but  subsequently  added)  — and  some 

others." 

One  general  remark  about  all  these  so-called  "  defini- 
tions "  of  money,  including  that  of  so  profound  a  thinker 
Henry  and  accurate  a  writer  as  Henry  George,  to  wit,  "  Money 

definition  of  is  a  labor-saving  device  to  facilitate  exchange,"  may  be 
made.     They  are    ( 1 )    in  the  mam  fallacious,  false  and 
Defects  of     misleading;   (2)   they  not  only  do  not  distinguish  money 
tions  given     from  every  other  thing  in  the  world,  as  a  good  and  ac- 
curate and  correct  definition  of  it  should  do,  but  they  do 
not  distinguish  money  from  any  other  thing  in  the  world ; 
and  (3)  even  in  the  parts  of  them  where  there  are  some 
Too  general,  elements  of  truth  they  are  too  general  to  be  of  any  value. 
illustration.        They  might  well  be  thus  illustrated:  A  gentleman  visits 
New  York  or  any  other  large  city,  and  sees  a  man  of 
remarkable  appearance  in  bearing,  stature,  pose,  etc.,  and 
says  to  his  resident  friend,  "  Who  is  that?"  and  receives 
for  answer,  "  That  is  a  citizen  of  New  York."   A  perfectly 
truthful  response  to  the  inquiry,  but  utterly  worthless  to 
the  inquirer ;  it  is  too  general  to  be  of  any  value.     Indeed, 
a  large  amount  of  the  speaking,  writing  and  teaching  of 
our  country  is  just  of  this  character,  too  general  to  be  of 
any  value,  and  when  an  attempt  is  made  to  be  specific,  the 
speaker,  writer  or  teacher,  as  the  case  may  be,  too  often 
falls  into  error. 

In  What  Sense  Is  It  True  That  Money  Is  the 
Common  Measure  of  Value? — Now,  in  the  light  of 
what  has  gone  before,  let  us  endeavor  to  ascertain,  if  pos- 
sible, in  what  sense  it  is  true  that  money  is  a  common 
measure  of  value,  or  a  common  denominator  of  value. 


What  is  Money?  85 

It  cannot  be  true  thai  money,  in  the  broad  sense  of  the  Noi  in 
three  intelligent  gentlemen  heretofore  mentioned,  to  wit,  sense. 
anything  that  can  he  exchanged  for  some  other  thing, 
or  any  commodity,  is  a  common  measure  of  value,  or  a 
common  denominator  of  value.  That  is  simply  impos- 
sible, and  too  absurd  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  and 
will  be  dismissed  without  further  remark. 

Is  it  true  that  money  in  the  sense  of  the  breezy  def- 
inition of  the  Spellbinder  heretofore  given,  to  wit,  any- 
thing that  is  issued  under  any  law  of  the  United  States, 
even  including  national  bank  notes  and  government  bonds. 
is  not  only  money,  full  "  legal  tender  "  for  any  amount, 
as  the  Spellbinder  claimed,  but  also  a  common  denom- 
inator of  value?    That  is  likewise  impossible,  and  too  ah-  Not   in 

"  breezy  " 

surd  to  merit  further  mention.  Indeed,  it  would  not,  in  sense.  ' 
the  first  instance  heretofore  given,  like  many  other  con- 
tentions heretofore  given,  have  been  at  all  worthy  of  men- 
tion, had  it  not  been  (1)  by  way  of  commentary  on  the 
history  of  the  times,  and  (2)  to  show  what  kind  of  mon- 
sters met,  attacked  and  slaughtered  the  Silver  Lunatics. 
Surelv  thev  were  monsters  of  air,  chimeras  dire !  chimeras 

<lir«'. 

Narrowing  the  inquiry,  then.  Is  money,  in  the  sense  of 
gold  coin,  silver  coin,  gold  certificates,  silver  certificates, 
national  bank  notes  and  treasury  notes  (popularly  called 
"  greenbacks  "),  the  common  measure  of  value,  or  a  com- 
mon denominator  of  value  ? 

The  answer  is  generally.  No  ;  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
the  "standard  dollar"  (silver)  and  the  greenback  are 
omitted  from  the  discussion  until  the  question  of  precisely 
what  is  money  in  the  United  States  is  taken  up,  and  then 
it  will  be  seen  that  their  status  in  no  respect  should  alter 
the  answer.  So  the  answer  is  all  the  time  and  emphat- 
ically, No,  they  are  not  such  measure  and  denominator. 

Then  what  is  the  common  measure  of  value?     Often 


86 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Apparent 
good    and 
real   good, 


The  appar-    in  this  world  there  are  in  affairs  the  apparent  thing  and 
and  the  real  the  real  tiling.     Each  individual  seeks  his  own  good.     No 

thing.  .  ° 

man  deliberately  seeks  his  own  damage  or  evil.  But 
many  mistake  their  apparent  for  their  real  good.  The 
man  who  drinks,  gambles,  debauches,  thinks  he  is  seeking 
and  getting  his  own  good  in  these  things,  acting  under 
the  adage,  "  Every  one  to  his  taste,  you  know.7'  The  man 
who  leads  a  lazy,  idle,  worthless  life,  unjustly  living  upon 
the  sweat  of  a  brow  other  than  his  own,  thinks  he  is  seek- 
ing and  getting  his  own  good,  and  so  on  to  other  things. 
But  these  are  all  mistakes  ;  what  each  so  seeks  is  apparent, 
not  real  good.  The  real  good  is  quite  different,  and  some 
day  the  seeker,  or  those  who  know  him,  or  both,  will 
plainly  see  that  they  are  mistaken. 

Again,  there  is  apparent  virtue  and  real  virtue,  apparent 
religion  and  real  religion,  distinction  clear  and  defined, 
but  not  to  be  discussed  here. 

Lastly,  in  even  physical  things  there  are  again  and  again 
the  real  and  the  apparent,  as  the  sun's  real  and  apparent 
motion,  the  earth's  real  and  apparent  form,  the  globular 
and  the  flat.  So  in  political  economy  there  is  the  apparent 
and  the  real  common  measure  of  value.  The  apparent 
measure  is  all  the  substitutes,  rather  representatives,  for 
money,  and  also  money  itself.  The  real  measure  is  money 
alone,  simply  tender. 

Suppose  A  has  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  gold 
illustration,  coin,  real  money,  tender,  in  the  bank  here  at  Carson.  Sup- 
pose he  issues  on  that  four  kinds  of  promises  to  pay,  to 
wit,  checks,  due  bills,  promissory  notes  and  squares  of 
tin  having  on  each  square  the  words,  "  Good  for  one 
dollar ;  "  and  suppose  further,  that  A,  being  well  known, 
all  these  promises  to  pay  circulate  from  hand  to  hand  in 
Carson  and  its  vicinity,  the  people  voluntarily  receiving 
them  in  payment.    Again,  suppose  this  thing  goes  on  until 


Apparent 
and    real 
measure  of 
value. 


What  is  Money?  87 

A  has  issued  and  put  into  circulation  four  hundred  thou- 
sand of  these  mere  promises  to  pay,  but  not  pay.  Are 
there  then  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  money  in  cir- 
culation in  Carson  and  its  vicinity,  to  wit,  the  original 
hundred  thousand  in  gold  coin  and  its  four  above  men- 
tioned representatives  to  the  amount  of  four  hundred  thou- 
sand? It  would  seem  that  nothing  but  crass  ignorance 
or  downright  wickedness  so  would  claim.  Yet  such  is 
practically  the  contention  of  those  who  advocate  the  pres- 
ent financial  system  of  the  United  States.  For  could  it 
possibly  make  any  material  difference  in  the  suppositi- 
tious case  above  put,  if  two  or  more  persons,  a  joint  stock 
company,  were  in  the  place  of  A,  a  single  individual,  or  if 
a  corporation  were  in  his  place? 

Again,  would  it  make  any  material  difference  on  the 
question  under  consideration  whether  the  issue  of  the  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars  of  promises  to  pay,  but  not  pay, 
were  made  under  the  legally  unrestrained  will  of  A,  the 
joint  stock  company,  or  the  corporation,  or  issued  under 
the  legally  restrained  will  of  any  one  of  them ;  that  is  to 
say,  when  there  is  no  law  limiting  to  the  said  sum  of  four 
hundred  thousand,  6r  when  there  is  a  law  limiting  the 
issue  to  said  sum?  Certainly  it  would  make  no  material 
difference.  As  a  question  in  the  business  of  banking 
there  might,  and  would  be,  a  material  difference,  but  none 
in  the  science  of  money.  The  question  as  to  whether  the 
issue  of  mere  promises  to  pay  to  the  extent  of  four  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  on  the  possession  of  something 
that  is  real  pay,  to  wit,  money,  tender,  is  a  material  ques- 
tion in  the  business  of  banking,  that  is,  whether  it  is  safe 
or  unsafe  banking;  whether  that  amount  is,   under  the  Safe  or  un- 

,  ,  ...  ,.      .  ,         ...       safe  banking. 

circumstances,  beyond  or  within  the  limit  Of  sate  bank- 
ing. But  it  cuts  no  figure  whatever  in  the  determination 
of  the  question.  What  is  money  ? 


88 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Again,  would  it  make  any  material  difference  in  the  sup- 
posititious case  heretofore  mentioned  that  the  said  issue 
of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  was  secured  in  whole 
Deposit  of     or  in  part  by  government  bonds  deposited  with  the  general 

government 

bonds.  or  state  government?     Certainly  not.     It  would  cut  some 

figure  in  the  question  of  safe  or  unsafe  banking,  but  none 
as  to  what  is  money.  It  might  be  very  material  as  to  tin- 
question  whether,  on  the  failure  of  a  bank,  the  depositor 
therein  would  finally  get  all,  much,  little  or  none  of  his 
deposits  back  again,  but  certainly  none  as  to  the  question. 
What  is  money  ?  It  would  be,  as  to  the  latter  question, 
just  the  same  as  to  the  question  whether  the  failing  bank 
had  sufficient  of  other  assets  finally  to  meet  all  demands 
and  pay  depositors  dollar  for  dollar,  or  not.  It  would  cut 
no  figure  in  the  question  of  money,  and  it  is  making  mere 
confusion  of  the  whole  subject  to  say  it  does. 

Taking  it,  then,  that  the  real  measure  of  value  of  a 
country  is  money,  tender,  and  that  nothing  is  money  that 
has  not  to  the  full  extent  that  as  its  distinguishing  quality, 
attribute,  characteristic  or  mark,  whatever  may  be  the 
word  bv  which  writers  may  choose  to  designate  this,  its 
main  function,  the  author  having  in  some  of  the  preceding 
pages  made  a  distinction  in  the  meaning  of  those  terms  for 
the  purpose  of  impressing  upon  the  mind  the  logical  se- 
quence and  cause  and  effect  of  the  various  purposes  that 
money  serves,  all,  however,  coming  as  cause  and  effect  and 
in  logical  sequence  from  this  function  of  tender,  and  with- 
out it  none  of  the  purposes  could  be  served,  and  also  tak- 
ing it  that  the  apparent  measure  of  value  of  a  country  is 
money,  tender,  together  with  all  of  its  substitutes  or 
representatives,  let  us  see  the  effect  of  mistaking  the  two 
measures. 

Absolute  Before  doing  so  it  may  be  of  service  to  make  one  further 

necessity    of  .  ,111  1     •  • 

tender.  observation   on   tender   and   the   absolute   and    imperious 


What  is  Money?  89 

necessity  therefor  —  the  impossibility  of  doing  without 
it.  This  would  not  have  been  deemed  necessary  or  desir- 
able had  it  not  been  that  here,  as  well  as  in  so  many  other 
places  where  money  is  involved,  gross  misconception  and 
deceptions  exist.  This  appears  in  the  propositions  often 
made  some  years  ago,  and  also  even  to  some  extent  now 
to  demonetize  both  gold  and  silver.  Some  very  distin- 
guished men  have,  in  America  and  elsewhere,  advocated 
this  proposition,  saying  the  measure  of  value  should  not 
be  money,  but  some  commodity,  as  wheat,  oats,  corn,  po- 
tatoes, or  a  number  of  these,  taking  usually  the  ordinary 
staple  products  of  the  world,  adding  to  those  just  named, 
perhaps,  cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  iron,  coal,  copper,  etc. 

Now  if  we  do  not  wish  this  matter  to  remain  in  the  mist 
and  fog  and  uncertainty  and  vagueness  that  have  so  long 
enshrouded  it,  and  which  was  attempted  on  a  preceding 
page  to  be  compared  and  illustrated  by  the  answer  given 
to  the  question,  "Who  is  that  gentleman?"  to  wit,  "He 
is  a  resident  of  New  York,"  that  is,  whatever  may  be  true 
in  it,  if  there  is  any,  is  too  general  to  be  of  any  value, —  it 
must  be  dissected,  analyzed  ami  examined. 

Strange  Propositions. —  First,  then,  of  the  proposi- 
tion to  demonetize  both  gold  and  silver.  Well,  then,  sup- 
pose it  is  done ;  gold  and  silver  are  demonetized.  What 
now  ?  The  law  of  contracts  is  abolished !  No  court  can  l:»w  of  con- 
enforce  a  contract.  Why  ?  —  Because,  as  was  shown  abolished. 
heretofore,  the  court's  only  means  of  enforcing  a  con- 
tract is  by  money,  tender  ;  it  cannot  order  the  imprisonment 
of  the  debtor,  and  that  he  be  held  in  prison  until  he  should 
by  some  means  have  paid  the  debt  or  discharged  the  obli- 
gation. So  if  the  court  cannot  adjudge  that  the  de- 
fendant's goods  "not  exempt  from  execution  "  lie  sold 
by  public  auction  for  money,  tender,  and  the  debt  or 
obligation  paid  by  it,  then  the  court  is  helpless,  utterly 


9o 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Could   not 

enforce     con- 
tract. 


No  such 

thing    as 
money  or 

representa- 
tive of 

mouey. 


powerless  in  the  matter.  If  there  is  no  law  to  enforce  a 
contract,  what  is  the  good  of  a  contract  ?  Without  money, 
tender,  no  contract  could  be  enforced  by  a  court,  except 
in  some  cases  a  contract  to  convey  land ;  for  a  court  could 
decree  the  conveyance  of  the  land  and  order  the  sheriff 
to  put  plaintiff  in  possession  thereof,  but  it  could  not  en- 
force a  contract  to  deliver  goods  or  pay  —  the  word  money 
was  about  to  be  written ;  but  there  could  not  be  a  contract 
to  pay  money,  for  there  would  be  no  such  thing  as  money ! 
For  without  tender  there  could  be  neither  money  nor  the 
representative  of  money  or  substitute  for  money.  That 
whole  class  of  creations  would  be  blotted  out  —  entirely 
extinguished.  Gold  and  silver  coin  would  be  reduced  to 
mere  commodities,  having  no  money  function  whatever ; 
and  greenbacks,  national  bank  notes,  gold  certificates, 
silver  certificates,  treasury  certificates,  ct  omnc  id  genus, 
including  government  bonds,  would  be  reduced  to  — 
nothing !  For  all  of  these  latter  are  contracts,  mere  prom- 
ises to  pay;  and  we  have  just  seen  that  contracts  can- 
not be  enforced  —  are  abolished  !  None  of  these  instru- 
ments, evidences  of  debts,  would  be  of  any  value ;  not 
one  could  be  enforced !  Would  not  this  be  "  violating  the 
obligation  of  a  contract?"  What  other  thing  could  it 
be  than  to  violate  a  contract  to  say  that  it  shall  not  be 
enforced?  It  is  really  killing  it.  What  good  is  your 
contract  if  you  cannot  enforce  it?  —  None.  There  is  no 
power  in  any  branch  of  government  in  this  country,  either 
the  general  government  or  the  state  governments,  or 
any  department  of  either,  to  pass  any  law  in  violation  of 
a  contract. 

Case  r. — What  do  the  gentlemen  mean  who  say  money 
Commodity    should    not    be    the    measure    of    value,    but    commodity 

as    measure.      .         .  .  -.       T  ...  . 

should  r  Let  us  take  it  that  they  mean  some  one  com- 
modity should  be  taken  as  the  measure  of  value.     Suppose 


What  is  Money?  91 

it  be  wheat.    Then  what  function  will  wheat  have?     Sup-  wheat. 

pose  one  man  had  for  a  valuable  consideration,  six  months 

aero,   agreed   that   he   to-day   would   deliver   a   thousand 

horses   to  another  man,   but   to-day   fails   to   deliver   the 

horses.     What  is  to  be  done?     Our  friends  say  that  the 

measure  of  value  is  wheat;  then  the  measure  of  damages 

for  failure  to  deliver  the  horses   is   wheat.      Now   shall 

suit   be    brought    and    the    court    adjudge    the    damages 

estimated  and  "  fixed  "  in  wheat,  and  that  and  the  costs 

of  the  suit  be  also  fixed  and  determined  in  wheat?    So  say 

our  friends.     But  there  are  many  objections,  and  a  few  Fatal    objec- 

here  to  be  stated  that  are  fatal  and  insuperable.     First, 

the  court  could  not  so  "  adjudge,"  for  if  it  did,  it  could 

not  enforce  its  judgment ;  and  a  judgment  of  a  court  that 

cannot  be  enforced  renders  the  court  not  only  ridiculous, 

but  also  contemptible.     Suppose  the  "judgment  debtor" 

did  not  have  the  wheat,  could  the  court  make  him  get 

it  and  deliver  it  ?  —  No.     How  could  it  ? 

But  it  may  be  said  that  the  court  could  "adjudge" 
that  all  of  the  "  judgment  debtor's  "  property,  commodi- 
ties, could  be  seized  and  sold  by  public  auction,  pay- 
ments to  be  made  in  wheat,  and  thus  discharge  the  wheat 
debt.    True  ;  but  then  wheat  would  be  money,  to  wit,  the  wheat 

.      .  money! 

debt-paying  thing!  and  it  would  soon  get  all  the  attri- 
butes, characteristics,  incidents  and  functions  of  money  - 
unless  the  inconvenience,  trouble  and  expense  attending 
the  use  as  money  of  a  thing  so  unsuitable  to  such  a  func- 
tion as  wheat  would  be,  should  cause  the  people  to 
change  it  before  the  mischief  became  general.  Let  us 
illustrate :  instead  of  having  "  money  vaults  "  as  we  have  illustration. 
now,  there  would  be  wheat  bins.  Connected  with  every 
bank,  instead  of  a  "  money  vault  "  there  would  be  a 
"  grain  elevator,"  and  a  strong  guard  of  armed  soldiers 
to  protect  it  against  burglars  and  thieves!     For  wheat 


92 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Almighty 
dollar: 
Almighty 
wheat. 


Illustration. 


then  being"  the  only  thing  by  which  a  debt  could  be  paid 
or  an  obligation  discharged,  every  man  would  be  making 
his  utmost  exertions  to  get  it ;  and  soon  we  should 
hear  no  more  of  the  "  almighty  dollar,"  but  it  would  be 
the  almighty  wheat !  And  wheat  thus  having  the  money 
function  legislated  into  it  in  addition  to  its  commodity 
function,  would  jump  in  the  market  to  such  a  price  that 
poor  men  and  men  of  moderate  means  would  no  more 
think  of  using  wheat  as  an  article  of  food  than  they  now 
think  of  using  diamonds  as  an  article  of  dress  or  orna- 
ment. 

Consider  a  little  in  detail  now :  during  grand  opera 
season  in  New  York,  men  and  women  would  be  seen 
trooping  into  the  building,  each  carrying  for  a  dollar 
ticket  his  or  her  bushel  of  wheat !  and  for  the  five-  and  ten- 
dollar  ticket  his  or  her  five-  or  ten-bushel  bags  of  wheat ! 
and  poor  old  paterfamilias,  with  his  bevy  of  a  half-dozen 
daughters  would  have  to  cart  up  to  the  theater  his  load 
of  thirty  or  sixty  bushels  of  wheat!  The  manager 
could  not  afford  to  take  in  payments  for  tickets  any- 
thing other  than  wheat,  because  he  could  not  pay  his 
debts  and  discharge  his  obligations  in  anything  except 
wheat.  So  the  wheat  bin  would  be  a  necessary  con- 
comitant to  every  theater,  dry-goods  store,  grocery,  hotel, 
church  charity  box,  etc. 

( '  \se  2. —  Though  the  language  of  those  who  advo- 
cate the  doctrine  that  value  should  be  estimated  in  staple 
commodities  is  so  general  that  it  is  impossible  to  ascer- 
tain what  they  do  mean,  if  they  have  any  clear  meaning, 
yet  their  second   meaning  may  be   the   following :  — 

Suppose  the  following  twelve  articles  be  selected  as 
commodities.  those  in  ^j^  vaiuc  should  be  estimated :    wheat,  maize, 

potatoes,  beef,  pork,  mutton,  iron,  copper,  cotton,  tobacco, 
hemp  and  lumber. 


Twelve 


What  is  Money?  93 

Suppose  further  that  the  suit  mentioned  under  Case  1 
was  brought  and  a  jury  empaneled  to  try  it.  It  should 
be  kept  steadily  in  mind  that  the  jury  would  have  the 
right,  and  it  would  be  its  duty,  to  say  what  article  or  Jury  select- 
commodity  should  be  money  for  this  case  —  what  com- 
modity should  pay  this  individual  debt ;  for  the  hypoth- 
esis now  is  that  law,  the  statute,  does  not  itself  desig- 
nate what  article  should  be  selected  to  pay  the  debt,  but 
that  the  jury  must  designate  that  commodity.  It  might 
reasonably  or  by  chance  happen  that  each  of  the  twelve 
jurors  was  a  producer  of  one  of  the  twelve  staple  articles  ! 
Then  each  would  be  interested  in  getting  his  commodity 
declared  the  money  of  the  case,— the  thing  that  should 
pay  that  debt, —  for  that  would  to  that  extent  increase 
the  value  of  his  commodity  ;  and  if  the  debt  were  a  large 
one,  say,  some  millions,  it  might  make  the  fortune  of 
the  juror  whose  commodity  was  selected!  And,  as  the 
first  duty  of  the  jury  would  be  to  determine  the  com- 
modity that  should  be  selected  as  the  monev  of  the  case, 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  Babel  would  burst  loose.  Air. 
Wheat,  Air.  Maize,  Mr.  Potato,  Mr.  Beef,  Mr.  Pork, 
Mr.  Mutton,  Mr.  Iron,  Mr.  Copper,  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr. 
Tobacco,  Mr.  Hemp  and  Mr.  Lumber  would  all  join 
in  such  a  roar  for  his  respective  commodity  that  the 
"  bulls  and  bears  at  their  play  "  in  the  pen  of  the  stock 
exchange  would  seem  in  comparison  like  the  subdued 
stillness  of  a  Quaker  meeting.  The  case  could  never 
go  to  judgment;  it  would  be  a  "hung  jury"  on  the  first  "Hung 

•     ,  1  jury." 

point ! 

But  suppose  by  good  fortune  and  Yankee  ingenuity 
this  point  is  gotten  over;  that  some  shrewd  juror  looks 
over  the  calendar  for  the  term  of  court  and  sees  that 
there  are  just  twelve  cases  thereon,  and  then  proposes 
that  slips  of  paper  with  the  numbers   r,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7, 


94  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

8,  9,  io,  ii,  12  written  thereon  be  placed  in  a  hat. 
and  that  each  juror  with  back  turned  should  draw  out 
Number  i.  a  slip,  and  that  he  who  draws  out  No.  I  should  have 
the  right  to  determine  the  commodity  that  should  be  the 
money  of  the  first  case  tried,  and  he  who  draws  No. 
2,  the  money  of  the  second  case,  and  so  on  through 
the  whole  twelve  slips  and  jurors.  Then  let  us  see  what 
will  happen:  the  jury  having  determined  two  points, 
( i )  the  commodity  that  should  be  the  money  of  the  case 
and  (2)  the  nature  of  the  contract  or  obligation  between 
plaintiff  and  defendant,  then  they  must  determine  or 
"  fix  "  the  amount  of  the  "  damages  "  in  this  commodity 
that  is  pro  hac  vice  [for  this  turn  or  occasion]  money, 
comparing  this  commodity  with  each  and  all  of  the  twelve 
staples  not  only  now  but  live  years  ago,  or  twenty,  as 
the  case  may  be,  when  the  contract  was  made  or  the  obli- 
gation incurred  on  which  the  suit  was  brought.  The 
difficulties  here  it  is  feared  would  not  be  small. 

The  contract  was,  say,  to  deliver  one  thousand  horses, 
and  the  damages  for  the  failure  to  do  so  is  by  the  jurors 
to  be  estimated  in  the  pro  hac  vice  money.  The  first 
condition  of  things  might  be  this,  that  since  the  day 
on  which  the  contract  was  made  and  the  day  of  bringing 
the  suit,  horses  might  have  doubled  in  value  and  each  of 
the  twelve  staples  might  also  have  doubled  in  value. 
Then  perhaps  it  might  be  all  right  to  say  that  at  the 
time  of  the  contract  five  or  twenty  years  ago,  one  thou- 
sand horses  were  of  the  value  of  one  hundred  thousand 
bushels  of  potatoes ;  and  as  horses  and  staples,  things  to 
be  measured  and  the  things  by  which  they  are  to  be 
measured,  have  each  doubled  in  value,  their  relative 
valuation  at  the  time  of  bringing  the  suit  should  be  the 
same ;  and  hence  the  verdict  should  be  one  thousand 
horses  are  of  the  value  of  one  hundred  thousand  bushels 


What  is  Money?  95 

of  potatoes,  and  the  judgment   should   be  docketed    for 

one  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  potato  money  !  Potato 

Again,  it  may  be  supposed  that  staples  and  horses 
have  each  fallen  in  value  just  one  half,  fifty  per  cent; 
then  again  the  juristic  —  if  it  may  be  allowed  to  limit  the 
meaning  of  the  word  juristic  to  pertaining  to  a  jury  in 
contradistinction  to  the  law  in  general  —  duty  would  In- 
easy.  A  thousand  horses  being  at  the  time  of  the  mak- 
ing of  the  contract  of  the  value  of  one  hundred  thousand 
bushels  of  potatoes,  would  at  the  time  of  enforcing  the 
contract  be  worth  also  just  the  same,  one  hundred  thou- 
sand bushels  of  potatoes. 

In  these  cases  the  fact  should  not  lie  lost  sight  of  that 
the  change  from  metal  money  to  vegetable  money  ■ — 
from  gold  and  silver  to  wheat  and  potatoes  —  would  have 
no  significance  w'hatever,  for  it  might  also  be  that  the 
staples  and  gold  and  silver  had  not  changed  at  all  in  their 
relative  worth  or  value  during  the  time  of  the  making 
and  enforcing  of  the  contract.  In  such  case  gold  and 
silver  would  be  just  as  fair  and  just  a  measure  of  value 
as  wheat  or  potatoes  or  anything  else.  Value  and  worth 
come  from  the  same  etymological  root ;  and  this  is  pre- 
served in  the  word  of  common  speech,  that  a  thing  is 
"  worth  "  so  much,  meaning  worthy  of  so  much  ;  that 
"  wheat  is  worth  a  dollar  a  bushel,"  meaning  worthy 
of  a  dollar  a  bushel. 

But  suppose  the  twelve  staples  have,  during  the  time 
intervening  between  the  making  and  the  enforcing  of  the 
contract,  changed  in  value,  not  onlv  as  between  all  of  Risings  and 
them  taken  together  and  jointly  on  the  one  side  and  various.' 
horses  on  the  other,  but  also  changed  in  value  as  among 
themselves ;  in  such  case  then  indeed  might  it  be  said 
of  the  juristic  task,  hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est  [this  is  work, 
this  is  labor  —  the  task,  the  difficulty]. 


9& 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Mathemat- 
ical expert. 


Science : 
Knowledge! 


Suppose  during  the  time  between  the  making  of  the 
contract  and  the  time  of  enforcing  the  same  by  suit, 
horses  had  fallen  in  value  five  per  cent,  the  first  of  the 
staples  risen  in  value  four  per  cent,  the  second  of  them 
had  fallen  in  value  sixty  per  cent,  the  third  had  risen 
thirty-four  per  cent,  and  the  remainder  of  the  twelve 
staples,  to  wit,  nine,  rising  or  falling  in  various  propor- 
tions of  sixteen,  thirty-seven,  forty-two,  etc. —  imagine 
all  this,  and  think  of  a  trial  jury  figuring  this  all  out! 

No;  if  such  were  the  law,  that  "palladium  of  Amer- 
ican liberty,"  the  trial  by  jury,  would  have  to  disappear 
from  the  scene  of  action  and  the  mathematical  expert 
take  his  place.  Like  Ichabod  Crane,  its  name  would 
indeed  be  Ichabod,  signifying  its  glory  had  departed ;  and 
another,  a  pedagogue,  would  reign  in  its  stead.  Courts 
would  have  to  cease  the  trial  of  cases  until  the  colleges 
and  universities  of  the  land  had  established  departments 
of  juristical  mathematics,  and  then  had  time  to  train 
up  and  send  forth  "  experts  "  in  juristical  mathematics 
to  prey  upon  the  honest  and  straightforward  part  of  the 
country.  For  let  it  be  stated  here  that  a  justly  sus- 
pected class  of  testimony  is  that  of  so-called  "  experts." 
Again  and  again  it  has  happened  that  "  science  " — knowl- 
edge, God  save  the  mark !  —  has  sent  into  courts  its 
experts  to  testify  under  oath  in  exactly  opposite  ways 
on  the  same  case !  and  each  expert  claiming  that  his 
testimony  is  science  or  knowledge !  Judges  of  honesty 
and  competency  generally  suspect  this  class  of  testimony. 
The  number  of  judicial  robberies  committed  under  it  are 
fearful  to  contemplate. 

Thus  the  difficulties  appear  when  the  number  of 
"  staples "  is  only  twelve.  Think  of  the  increase  of 
the  difficulties  when  the  number  of  "  staples  "  is  twenty, 
forty  or  sixty,  as  some  advocates  of  what  may  be  properly 


What  is  Money?  97 

called  staple  money  think  it  should  be !     Clearly,   such  staple 
a  mode  of  doing  would  be  simply  impracticable. 

Besides,  if  all  this  calculation  of  value  between  the 
time  of  making  a  contract  and  the  time  of  enforcing  it 
were  necessary,  it  could  far  better  be  done  with  the  money 
of  our  United  States  Constitution,  gold  and  silver  coin, 
than  with  staple  money.  Simply  put  money  instead  of 
wheat,  or  other  commodities  in  any  of  the  foregoing 
cases,  and  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  same  compari- 
son of  values  could  be  even  far  more  readily  made  — 
made  with  mathematical  accuracy.  The  money  is  the 
thing  to  do  it  with.  With  money  all  difficulties  disap- 
pear, except  mathematical  skill. 

Case  3. —  A  few  words  now  on  a  possible  third  case ; 
to  wit,  instead  of  the  law  or  the  jury  fixing  and  deter- 
mining the  staple  that  for  the  case  in  hand  should  be 
money,    let   the   plaintiff   or   the    defendant    in    the    case 
determine  and  fix  it.     This  is  preposterous,  for  it  would 
be  permitting  the  plaintiff  or  defendant  in  a  case  instead  Plaintiff  or 
of  the  sovereignty  to  say  what  should  be  money,  tender !  endowed 
and  the  uncertainty  of  business  affairs  would  be  so  great  ereiKuty. 
that  trade  would  cease  except  in  the  primitive  form  of 
barter.     Furthermore,  if  the  plaintiff  should  be  permitted 
to  select  the  money  staple,  he  would  select  the  one  most 
difficult  to  be  obtained ;  if  the  defendant,  he  would  select 
the  one  least  difficult  to  be  obtained. 

An  objection  general  and  common  to  all  these  staple 
or  commodity  moneys  is  that  in  or  connected  with  all 
places  of  business,  stores,  hotels,  theaters,  shops,  banks, 
etc.,  etc.,  there  would  have  to  be  instead  of  money  tills 
or  money  vaults,  wheat  bins,  pig  sties,  cattle  pens,  lumber 
yards,  potato  cellars,  et  id  omne  genus.  It  would  indeed 
seem  that  such  a  suggestion  could  come  only  from  total 
ignorance  of  the  subject. 
7 


98  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Why  the  Cry  about  Measure  of  Value  Chang- 
ing ?  —  Why  indeed  should  there  be  such  a  cry  about 
the  measure  of  value  changing?  Does  not  everything 
else  under  the  sun  change?  Look  about  you,  my  friend, 
what  is  there  now  just  as  it  was  ten  years  ago?  The 
old  homestead,  the  village,  the  town,  neighbors,  friends, 
acquaintances ;  thoughts,  opinions,  desires,  hopes ;  you 
yourself,  all,  all  have  changed !  And  yet  men  talk  as  if 
it  were  something  monstrous  if  the  measure  of  value 
should  be  subject  to  this  universal  law  of  change.  Do 
not  understand  from  this  that  it  is  an  admission  that  gold 
and  silver  coin  change  more  than  other  things.  On  the 
contrary  they  change  less.  In  what  year  of  the  world's 
history  has  gold  or  silver  coin  or  both  of  them  changed 
as  much  in  value  as  has  wheat  or  other  commodities 
in  a  single  month  ?  —  No  one.  Commodities  are  far  more 
changeable  in  value  than  gold  and  silver  coin.  Com- 
modities sometimes  change  in  comparison  with  one  an- 
other as  much  in  an  hour  as  gold  and  silver  coin  change  in 
comparison  with  them  in  a  year.  Wise  indeed  was  the 
ancient  who  said,  "  Omne  corpus  mutabile  est '''  "  Every- 
body is  changeable"]. 
credit  If  one  sells  a  piece  of  property  to  another  on  credit, 

the  debt  to  be  paid  in  money  at  some  future  day  named, 
why  should  the  transaction  be  more  carefully  guarded 
as  to  change  in  value  of  either  the  property  sold  or  the 
money  to  be  paid  or  given  in  exchange  for  it  than  if  the 
money  was  paid  cash  at  the  time  of  sale?  Suppose  A 
sells  a  tract  of  land  to  B  for  one  thousand  dollars,  the 
dollars  to  be  paid  five  years  hence,  and  at  the  time  of 
payment  dollars  have  increased  in  value  to  double  what 
they  were  when  the  contract  was  made,  of  course  it 
comes  hard  on  B  to  pay  in  dollars.  But  suppose  A  sells 
to  B  the  same  tract  of  land   for  one  thousand  dollars 


What  is  Money?  99 

cash,  and  B  keeps  the  land  and  A  keeps  the  thousand  cash  sales, 
dollars  five  years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  period  the  dol- 
lars are  worth  double  what  they  were  worth  at  the  besrin- 
ning  of  it,  has  not  the  same  hardship  come  to  B  as  before? 
If  the  dollars  had  doubled  in  value,  B  in  the  first  case 
would  have  to  get  in  effect  two  thousand  dollars  in 
order  to  pay  his  debt;  and  in  the  second  case  he  would 
in  effect  for  one  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  property 
have  two  thousand  dollars ;  to  wit,  the  one  thousand  dol- 
lars paid  that  had  risen  in  value  to  two  thousand  dollars. 
This  of  course,  supposes  the  value  of  the  land  sold  to 
have  remained  the  same.  Had  it  also  increased  in  value 
to  double  or  to  two  thousand  dollars,  neither  A  nor  B 
would  be  hurt.  The  chances  of  future  increase  or  de- 
crease in  the  value  of  property,  whether  the  property  No  difference 
be  land  or  commodity  or  money,  must  be  taken  ;  there  them!en 
is  no  complete  remedy  for  them.  The  nearest  approach 
to  a  remedy  is  to  have  the  measure  of  value,  the  money 
of  a  country,  fixed  and  settled  in  the  constitution  of  that 
country,  as  our  wise  forefathers  fixed  the  money  of 
our  country  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
beyond  the  power  of  either  the  general  government  or 
the  state  government  to  change  it,  as  will  be  proved  in 
Part  II  of  this  work.  But  enough  on  that  subject  for 
the  present. 

Some  Additional  Comparisons. —  Suppose  a  case  of  Barter, 
barter.  A  gives  his  ranch  to  B  for  B's  band  of  cattle, 
the  ranch  and  the  band  being  each  at  the  time  worth  a 
thousand  dollars.  At  the  end  of  five  years  the  ranch 
remains  worth  a  thousand  dollars,  but  the  cattle  have 
doubled  in  value.  Of  course,  A  has  made  a  good  but 
B  a  bad  bargain.  Suppose  the  case  reversed :  the  ranch 
doubles,  and  the  cattle  remain  the  same,  in  value ;  then 
A  has  made  a  bad  and  B  a  good  bargain.     But  in  either 


ioo  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Law   and 
medicine. 


June. 


case  did  any  one  ever  propose  a  law  to  equalize  matters? 
And  yet  there  is  not  a  particle  of  real  difference  between 
this  case  and  a  case  of  sale  for  cash. 

A  has  two  sons.  By  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
father  one  reads  law  and  the  other  medicine.  At  the 
end  of  five  years  it  is  found  that  the  medical  business 
(as  well  as  the  undertaker's)  has  been  brisk,  but  that 
of  the  law  depressed ;  the  son  of  Esculapius  is  prosperous, 
but  the  son  of  Themis  is  seedy.  Did  any  one  ever  pro- 
pose a  legislative  enactment  to  help  out  the  son  of  the 
law? 

Once  more :  Jane  has  the  offer  of  marriage  from 
John  and  Tom.  She  rejects  John  and  accepts  Tom. 
Five  years  later  she  finds  John  is  doing  well  in  business 
and  in  family  affairs,  but  Tom  is  doing  nothing  in  either. 
Did  any  benevolent  Gold  Solomon  ever  propose  a  wise 
law  to  relieve  poor  Jane  ?  —  No.  A  heathen  poet  has 
said:  "  V avium  ct  mutabile  semper  femina"  ["Woman 
is  ever  a  fickle  and  changeable  thing"].  But  the  world 
says  that  poor  Jane  has  ever  to  stick  to  worthless  Tom ! 
Of  the  two,  Jane  a  thousand  times  better  deserves  relief 
than  the  losing  party  in  a  credit  sale. 

If  men  choose  to  make  "  long  "  contracts,  that  is,  con- 
tracts to  be  fulfilled  at  a  very  distant  day  by  the  pay- 
ment of  money,  they  must  prudently  consider  the  prob- 
abilities of  changes  in  the  situation  of  things  in  the  mean- 
time ;  and  if  changes  come  working  to  their  detriment, 
they  must  blame  themselves.  It  is  stated  that  one  of  the 
great  universities  of  America  a  number  of  years  ago 
made  a  lease  of  some  of  its  lands  for  twenty-five  dollars 
a  year,  the  lease  to  run  ninety-nine  years,  and  since  then 
a  large  city  has  grown  up  on  the  lands.  The  lessee,  or 
his  successors,  takes  in  millions  of  dollars  yearly  for 
the  rent  of  those  lands ;  but  the  university  gets  only  its 


What  is  Money?  101 

accustomed  twenty-five  dollars  a  year!  Depreciation  in 
the  value  of  money  did  not  do  this,  work  this  loss  ;  it 
was  the  bargain  made. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  here  that  the  government  of  a 
country  is  charged  with  a  most  serious  duty  in  keeping 
the  money  of  the  country,  its  measure  of  value,  as  uni- 
form in  value  as  possible.  The  proper  method  of  doing 
it  will  hereafter  be  discussed. 

Money  a  Yardstick,  etc. —  Money,  or  measure  of 
value,  a  yardstick,  pound  weight,  gallon  measure,  road, 
wagon,   staircase,   etc.,   etc. 

Money  has  by  different  writers,  Spellbinders  and  Gold 
Solomons  been  called  a  yardstick,  pound  weight,  gallon 
measure,  road,  wagon,  staircase  and  so  on. 

What  is  meant  by  these  statements,  if  they  have  any 
clear  meaning? 

First  let  us  consider  money  as  a  yardstick,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, see  in  what  respects  they  agree  and  in  what  they 
differ,  provided  they  have  both  agreements  and  differ- 
ences. It  is  in  this  connection,  too,  that  the  quantitative 
and  qualitative  theories  of  money  should  be  discussed ; 
for  what  is  true  of  the  "  yardstick  "  in  this  connection 
is  true  of  the  others,  the  pound  weight,  gallon  measure 
and  so  forth, —  that  is,  of  all  real  measures,  whether  those 
measures  be  of  length,  superficies,  cubical  contents, 
weight  or  time,  in  short,  whether  it  be  measures  of  time, 
space  or  density. 

The  Gold  Solomons  contend  that  the  quantity  of  money  Quantitative 

.  11*     an<l   QnaU- 

is  of  no  importance,  cuts  no  figure  whatever;  but  that  tative 

1  ....  Theories. 

it  is  the  quality  only  of  the  money  which  is  of  any  im- 
portance, cuts  any  figure.  So  gross  an  absurdity  would 
not  require  mention  were  it  not  that  the  history  of  the 
more  modern  part  of  the  "  thirty  years'  war "  shows 
that  the  dupes  of  the  Gold  Solomons  under  this  slogan 


102  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

marched  to  victory  in  two  national  campaigns,  the 
same  as  did  the  dupes  of  the  Arabian  impostor  under 
Mahomet.  the  cry  of  "There  is  no  God  but  God;  and  Mahomet  is 
his  prophet."  During  the  first  of  those  campaigns  the 
following  conversation,  type  of  many  others,  occurred 
between  one  of  them  and  the  author :  — 

Author :  '  You  say  the  quantity  of  the  money  cuts  no 
figure,  is  of  no  importance  in  the  business  and  trade 
of  the  country,  or  in  those  of  the  world?" 

Gold  Solomon :  *  Yes ;  I  say  it  and  have  no  doubt 
of  its  truth." 

Author :  '  What  will  you  do,  if  I  tell  you  that  I  shall 
make  you  acknowledge  the  contrary  before  we  separate, 
and  I  shall  use  no  violence  or  restraint  upon  you  and 
not  detain  you  but  a  few  moments  either?" 

G.  S. :     'I  simply  say  that  is  impossible." 

A. :  '  Well,  suppose  all  the  gold  in  the  world  were 
divided  into  two  halves,  two  equal  parts,  and  one  of 
them  loaded  on  a  ship  or  on  ships,  taken  to  the  middle 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  thrown  overboard,  so  that  it 
could  never  again  be  recovered,  would  that  affect  the 
half  remaining  to  men?" 

G.  S. :  "  Xo ;  not  in  the  least,  the  remainder  would 
be  '  good  money,'  '  sound  money,'  '  honest  money,'  and 
that  is  all  we  want  and  that  is  necessary !  " 

A. :    "  Suppose  we  so  divide  and  so  dump  again?  " 

G.   S. :    "  No  effect  whatever." 

A.:    "Once  more?" 

G.  S. :    "Again,  and  as  before,  no  effect  whatever!" 

A. :     "  Suppose   this    dividing    and    dumping    continue 

one  ten  aoi- until  there  is  left  in  the  whole  wide  world  but  one  eagle, 

piece  iii  theone  ten-dollar  piece,  in  gold,  what  the  effect ;  would  its 

value  be  just  the  same  as  was  the  value  of  the  whole 

before  the  dividing  and  dumping  began  ?  " 


What  is  Money?  103 

G.  S. :  '  W-e-1-1,  n-o,"  the  answer  being  long  drawn 
out,  in  proportion  to  the  reluctance  of  his  consent. 

Then,  of  course,  there  is  a  point  in  reducing  the  quan- 
tity of  money  of  a  country  beyond  which  we  cannot  go 
without  mischief  starting ;  and  another  point  beyond 
which  we  cannot  go  without  fatal  mischief  following. 
The  only  question  is,  What  is  that  point  in  a  given  country 
and  at  a  given  time?  Of  this  later,  for  the  present  atten- 
tion will  be  given  to  the  yardstick. 

The  yardstick  measures  length  ;  money  measures  value ; 
numbers  measure  numbers ;  in  general,  like  measures  Like  meas- 
like.  We  may  suppose  that  we  have  two  things  to  be 
measured,  horses  and  cloth.  Each  may  be  measured  in 
two  ways.  First,  as  to  quantity,  and  second  as  to  value. 
The  quantity  of  the  cloth  is  measured  thus :  a  merchant 
receives  a  piece  of  cloth  ;  it  lies  on  his  counter ;  he  wants 
to  know  its  length.  He  applies  a  yardstick  containing 
thirty-six  inches  to  it,  and  finds  that  he  has  applied  the 
yardstick  one  hundred  times,  at  each  application  the  yard- 
stick starting  precisely  at  the  point  at  which  it  stopped 
before ;  as  it  were  stepping  along  the  cloth  in  the  direc- 
tion of  its  length.  The  merchant  rests  in  perfect  con- 
fidence that  he  has  measured  his  cloth,  and  that  he  has 
one  hundred  yards  of  it.  100  yards. 

Suppose  now  he  wishes  to  measure  the  value  of  the 
cloth,  he  does  it  thus :  he  has  paid  for  it,  say,  in  the 
lump,  two  hundred  dollars  ;  now  dividing,  measuring,  the 
two  hundred  dollars  by  the  number  of  yards,  one  hun- 
dred, he  gets  two  dollars  for  a  quotient  (200-^-  100  =  2; 
or,  $200.00-^  IOO  yards  =  $2.00).  Thus  he  has  measured 
the  length  by  the  yardstick,  the  yardstick  of  three  feet 
or  thirty-six  inches,  the  foot,  or  twelve  inches,  being  the 
unit  of  length  measure,  and  he  has  measured  the  value 
by  the  dollars,  the  yardstick  being  the  unit  of  measure 


104  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

for  the  length  and  the  dollar  being  the  nnit  of  measure 
for  value.  Thus  far  the  analogy  of  money  to  yardstick 
is  complete.  But  is  this  all?  Is  there  no  difference 
between  them  ?  In  his  wisdom  the  Gold  Solomon  haught- 
ily says,  "Yes;  this  is  all.  No;  there  is  no  difference 
between  them !  ':  In  his  lunacy  the  Silver  Lunatic 
imagines  that  this  is  not  all ;  he  imagines  that  there  is 
a  difference  between  them.  His  imaginings,  his  vagaries 
on  this  subject,  may  be  stated  thus :  — 

Yardsticks  now  have  some  value,  a  small  value,  by 
reason  of  their  usefulness  in  measuring  length  of  cloth, 
etc.,  and  if  made  very  handsomely,  some  value  also  by 
reason  of  their  ornamentation  and  beauty.  But  suppose 
the  government,  having  the  power,  should  enact  a  law 
The  differ-  ( i )  that  yardsticks  should  hereafter  be  made  of  a  certain 
yardsticks      kind  of  very  scarce  wood  only,  sav  box  wood,  and  box 

and    money.  ,     ,    .       ,  '  .        .  . 

wood  only;  and  (2)  that  the  government  should  itselt 
monopolize  the  making  of  these  yardsticks,  that  is,  make 
all  of  them  itself;  and  (3)  that  whoever  made  a  yardstick 
for  himself,  either  of  genuine  box  wood  or  of  any  other 
kind  of  wood  painted  and  fashioned  to  resemble  box 
wood,  should  be  guilty  of  a  crime,  and  on  conviction 
thereof  should  be  condemned  to  a  felon's  cell  for  a  term 
of  years  ;  and  (4)  that  whoever  used  any  yardstick  other 
than  a  government  yardstick,  that  is,  a  yardstick  so  made 
by  the  government,  should  be  guilty  of  a  crime,  and  on 
conviction  thereof  should  be  condemned  to  a  felon's  cell 
for  a  term  of  years. 

These  four  things,  attributes,  qualities,  functions,  by 
whatever  name  one  may  choose  to  call  them,  would  have 
to  be  added  to  the  yardstick  before  it  could  have  a  com- 
plete analogy  to  money  —  before  it  could  have  the  func- 
tions of  money  —  before  it  could  be  truly  likened  to 
money. 


What  is  Money?  105 

In  those  four  points  then  money  differs  from  any  and  Four    points, 
all  tools,  implements,  instruments,  and  also  from  any  and 
all  commodities. 

What  would  be  the  effect  on  yardsticks  of  giving  to 
them  all  these  four  endowments?  Certainly  their  value 
would  be  increased,  and  largely  increased  thereby.  No 
sane  man  could  think  otherwise. 

But  other   and   important   differences   between   money 
and  the  yardstick,  or  any  tool  or  implement,  should  be 
noticed.     Suppose  the  government,  having  the  power  to 
do  so,  should  enact  a  law  providing  (1)  that  there  should 
be  only  a  certain  number  of  yardsticks  made  by   it,  of 
course  no  one  else  having  the  power  or  right  to  make 
any;  and    (2)    that  the   number  should  not  be  equal   to 
the   number  of   shops   and   other   places   in   which   yard- 
sticks were  to  be  used,  but  that  the  number  should  be 
very  greatly  less,  say,  fifty  places  where  yardsticks  were 
needed  to  be  used  to  one  yardstick!     This  would  most  other 
assuredly  further  increase  the  value  of  yardsticks.     For 
if   a   merchant   or   dealer   when   a   customer   came   in   to 
purchase  goods  had  to  wait  until  a  yardstick  could  be 
sent  for  and  brought  in,  his  opportunity  to  make  a  sale 
would  often  slip  away  while  he  was  endeavoring  to  get 
his   yardstick !   and   if   there   be   added   to   the    foregoing 
the  additional  fact  that  (5)  the  government  should  enact 
a   law   that  the   yardsticks   that   it   made   should   be   pay 
for  the  cloth  that  the  yardstick  measured,  and  that  noth- 
ing else  should  pay  for  it,  then  and  not  till  then  would 
the  yardstick  be  endowed  with  something  like  the  endow- 
ments of  money.     And  bear  in  mind  that  all  of  these  en- 
dowments came  from  the  law  and  from  nothing  but  the 
law. 

One  thing  more :    suppose  in  the  foregoing  case,  that 
instead  of  the  government  enacting  a  law  that  one  kind 


io6  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

of  wood  only,  that  is,  box  wood,  should  be  the  material 

of  which  yardsticks  are  to  be  made,  the  law  had  been 

Two  kinds  of  (  I )    that  there  should  be  two  kinds  of  wood  of  which 

yardstick  .      .    ,  ,  ,  . 

wood.  yardsticks  were  to  be  made,  to  wit,  box  wood  and  rose 

wood ;  and  ( 2 )  that  the  government  would  make  into 
yardsticks  all  the  box  wood  and  all  the  rose  wood  that 
any  person  would  bring  to  it,  paying  to  said  person 
therefor  in  yardsticks  the  full  weight  of  the  box  wood 
and  rose  wood  that  he  brought,  then  the  situation  would 
be  similar  to  that  of  gold  and  silver  before  the  demonetiza- 
tion of  silver  in  1873.  This  would  make  rose  wood  as 
well  as  box  wood  very  valuable,  because  rose  wood  as 
well  as  box  wood  would  be  yardstick  material.  While 
such  was  the  law.  men  would  be  toiling  in  every  possible 
way  to  get  rose  wood  as  well  as  box  wood ;  and  it  would 
seem  that  rose  wood,  rather  the  owners  of  rose  wood, 
should  have  equal  protection  before  the  law  with  the 
owners  of  box  wood,  and  especially  for  that  part  of  the 
rose  wood  that  had  already  been  made  into  yardsticks ! 
But  suppose  the  government  should  suddenly  —  to  say 
nothing  of  secretly  and  surreptitiously  - —  pass  an  enact- 
ment that  yardsticks  should  not  thereafter  be  made  of 
any  material  but  box  wood ;  would  not  that  be  gross 
injustice  to  all  those  who  had  put  their  time  and  labor 
into  getting  rose  wood  ?  Suppose  the  enactment  went 
further,  and  said  that  the  yardsticks  already  made  of 
rose  wood  should  not  thereafter  be  used,  or  used  to  very 

Gross  injus-  limited  extent  only  ;  would  not  this  be  adding  to  the  gross 
injustice  already  inflicted  on  those  who  had  spent  their 
time  and  labor  in  getting  rose  wood  yardsticks?  Nothing 
but  ignorance  or  dishonesty  or  Gold  Solomon  wisdom 
could  deny  that  it  would. 

Yet  this  was  precisely  what  was  done  with  regard  to 
silver  in  1873  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  when 


What  is  Money?  107 

that  body,  to  which  the  people  ought  to  be  able  to  look 
for  protection,  legislated  the  money  function  out  of 
silver  and  legislated  it  into  gold  alone;  and  this,  too,  in 
violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which 
each  member  of  the  Congress  had  sworn  to  observe, 
protect  and  defend !  And  yet  the  Gold  Solomons  say 
that  no  moral  wrong  was  committed,  "no  injury  done 
to  any  one,"  by  the  Congress  of  1873  and  its  successors 
in  the  demonetizing  enactments  with  regard  to  silver! 
One  would  naturally  ask,  if  that  is  true,  What  is  a  moral 
wrong  ? 

The  foregoing  as  to  yardsticks  would  be  equally  appli- 
cable to  the  material  of  which  any  other  tool  or  imple-  other 
ment  or  any  commodity  was  composed.  It  would  apply 
to  the  "  hayrack  "  mentioned  some  pages  back,  but  the 
analogy  of  "hayrack,"  "road"  or  "  staircase "  hereto- 
fore mentioned  as  being  the  definitions  of  money  given 
by  writers  is  too  absurd  for  further  mention.  The 
only  analogy  that  could  possibly  be  in  any  of  those 
would  be  as  a  means  to  an  end ;  and  that  is  so  general 
that  it  makes  no  distinction  whatever.  Air  is  a  means 
to  the  end  of  living ;  so  is  food ;  so  is  the  earth  ;  and  so 
are  many,  many  things  ;  and  these  surely  are  not  money. 

If  the  government  furnished  yardsticks  abundantly, 
they  would  be  cheap;  if  scantily,  they  would  be  dear, 
just  as  any  other  thing  would  be  under  the  same  cir- 
cumstances, supply  and  demand  governing  this  as  all 
other  things  in  political  economy.  But  keep  steadily  in 
mind  that  in  the  case  of  money  it  is  the  government,  and 
the  government  alone,  that  can  furnish  a  supply.  It  is 
a  crime  with  punishment  in  a  felon's  cell  in  a  penitentiary  crime. 
for  a  private  person  to  even  attempt  to  furnish  it.  I  lence 
the  imperative  duty  of  the  government  to  furnish  an 
adequate  supply. 


io8  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Increasing  the  Length  of  the  Yardstick. —  Sup- 
pose the  government,  having  the  power  to  do  so,  should 
enact  a  law  providing   ( i )   that  thereafter  the  yardstick 
The  yard-     should  be  of  the  length  of  seventy-two  inches  instead  of 
inches.  thirty-six  as  theretofore;  and  (2)  that  the  said  law  should 

be  applicable  to  all  contracts  then  existing  as  well  as 
those  thereafter  to  be  made. 

Under  said  law,  A,  who  had  contracted  to  deliver  to 
B  one  hundred  yards  of  cloth,  takes  to  B  the  quantity 
measured  by  the  old,  the  thirty-six  inch  yardstick.  B 
refuses  to  receive  it,  saying  there  is  only  half  enough. 
A  says,  "  Why,  I  measured  it  myself,  and  I  know  there 
is  enough,  the  full  one  hundred  yards !  ':  B  says,  "  Well, 
let  us  together  measure  it ;  then  we  will  be  sure."  A 
says.  "Agreed."  B  brings  forth  his  yardstick  of  the 
length  of  seventy-two  inches  !  A  says,  "  What's  that  ?  " 
B  says,  "  My  yardstick."  A  says,  "  Hold  on,  you  don't 
measure  my  cloth  by  that  Brobdingnagian  yardstick !  Put 
aside  your  sequoia  yardstick !  We  will  get  the  honest 
old  '  yardstick  '  of  our  forefathers."  B  says,  "  See  here, 
you  are  under  the  law."  A  says,  "  All  right,  but  there 
is  no  law  for  that ! "  Then  B  reads  him,  "  Be  it  enacted 
by  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  that  the  yardstick  shall  be 
of  the  length  of  seventy-two  inches.  This  law  shall  apply 
to  all  existing  as  well  as  all  future  contracts."  A  returns 
The  crusheda  crushed,  sad,  broken  man ;  for  it  may  be  that  it  takes 
family.  just  all  he  has  in  the  world  to  get  together  the  additional 

fifty  yards !  He  and  his  wife  starve,  die ;  their  children 
scatter,  homeless,  to  wander  among  strangers,  thereafter 
the  slaves  of  the  seventy-two  inch  yardsticks !  Is  there 
no  injury  done  to  A  and  his  family  here?  No  moral 
wrong  ? 

Substitute  dollars  for  yards  of  cloth  in  the  foregoing. 


not    laws. 


What  is  Money?  109 

and  you  have  precisely  what  was  done  to  thousands  and 
thousands  of  the  people  by  the  silver  demonetization  enact- 
ments of  the  Congress  of  1873  —  enactments  or  statutes,  Kna.-tn.entH 
not  laws ;  for  laws  must  be  made  by  those  having  author- 
ity to  make  them.  No  enactment  or  statute  is  a  law 
that  is  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  silver  demonetization  enactments  are  in 
violation  of  the  Constitution. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  effect  of  the  silver  de- 
monetization enactment  was  not  instantaneous,  but 
gradual,  accumulative  and  increasing,  and  it  still  con- 
tinues. It  is  like  a  water  tank  or  reservoir,  once  fed  by  a 
sufficient  supply  of  water  to  keep  it  full ;  but  the  supply  is 
diminished.  The  tank  being  full,  the  water  consumer 
feels  no  inconvenience  at  first ;  his  supply  pipes  flow  with 
water  as  usual.  But  after  a  time  the  water  in  the  tank  is 
lowered  to  such  an  extent  that  the  flow  in  the  pipes  leading 
from  the  tank  becomes  feeble  and  insufficient ;  there  is  but 
little  pressure.  The  insufficient  supply  still  coming  into 
the  tank,  the  water  to  the  consumer  will  not  cease  entirely, 
but  simply  be  insufficient ;  and  at  intervals,  when  the  tank 
is  exhausted  entirely,  cease  to  flow  except  to  those  con- 
sumers getting  the  first  chance  at  the  water,  those  coming 
later  getting  no  water  because  the  flow  has  ceased.  It  is 
true  that  those  getting  a  supply  by  first  getting  at  the 
water,  make  much  in  their  business  when  the  business  of 
others  cease ;  they  have  a  monopoly  then.  At  these  inter- 
vals water  famines  occur,  and  business  enterprises  and 
domestic  affairs  depending  on  water  have  to  step. 

So  when  an  insufficient  supply  of  money,  real  money, 
not  substitute  therefor,  passes  through  the  channels  of 
trade  and  business,  it  becomes  feeble,  and  trade  and  busi- 
ness languish,  and  at  intervals  cease  altogether.  These 
latter  times  are  called  "  hard  times  "  and  "  panics." 


no  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Of  course,  in  time  the  insufficient  supply  will  again  raise 
the  water  in  the  tank,  and  consumption  of  water  having 
been  for  some  time  stopped,  the  tank  will  be  filled.  Then 
for  a  brief  season  an  adequate  flow  from  the  tank  will  go 
on.  At  these  times  "  prosperity  "  cheers  the  consumers, 
and  they  cheer  and  applaud  those  furnishing  even  the 
insufficient  supply.  But  when  the  water  in  the  tank  again 
becomes  low,  and  the  flow  therefrom  feeble  or  ceases  al- 
together, then  the  consumers  again  have  trouble.  Thus 
it  is  with  money  ;  an  insufficient  supply  produces  alterna- 
tions of  plenty  and  scarcity,  prosperity  and  panic ;  and  at 
each  alternation  the  rich  get  more,  and  the  poor  lose  what 
they  have,  those  first  getting  the  supply  of  water  make 
much  by  reason  of  the  monopoly.  In  financial  affairs  the 
rich  get  to  the  financial  reservoir  first.  This  will  be 
illustrated  further  on  in  the  history  of  Micropohs. 

Truly,  for  thirty  years  the  people,  though  they  are  the 
sovereigns  of  the  land,  have  been  led  to  their  financial 
c.oiden  crucifixion  by  a  golden  thread  that  even  a  little  child  could 

break.  O  that  the  people,  the  suffering  people,  knew 
their  power,  and  how  to  use  it  wisely  to  overthrow  their 
oppressors ! 

To  proceed  to  complete  the  analogy:  in  1873  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  without  authority  under  the 
Constitution  to  do  so,  but  by  usurped  power,  struck  out 
one-half  of  the  money  of  the  United  States ;  legislated 
the  money  function  out  of  the  silver  coin  ;  said  that  the 
silver  coin  should  not  be  pay,  but  merely  promise  to  pay. 
This  made  the  gold  dollar  the  measure  of  value,  the  meas- 
ure of  all  contracts  to  pay  dollars ;  and  it  also  doubled  the 
value  of  said  gold  dollar.  Therefore,  if  a  man  owed  a 
dollar,  one  dollar,  he  could  not  pay  it  without  giving  what 
was  worth  two  dollars,  the  same  as  two  dollars.  He  was 
in  a  precisely  similar  situation  as  was  the  man  mentioned 


What  is  Money?  1 1 1 

above  who  had  to  deliver  one  hundred  yards  of  cloth, 
measured  by  the  new  statutory  yardstick  of  seventy-two 
inches,  that  is,  two  hundred  yards,  when  lie  had  agreed 
to  deliver  and  had  received  compensation  for  delivering 
only  one  hundred  yards  measured  by  the  old,  honest  thirty- 
six  inch  yardstick,  that  is,  simply  one  hundred  yards! 
Was  there  no  wrong  in  that?  no  injury?  nothing  to 
shock  the  moral  sense  ?  If  the  m< >ral  sense  of  a  man  w<  mid 
not  be  shocked  by  that,  then  in  the  name  of  all  the  ethical 
canons,  what  could  shock  it?  The  wooden  yardstick  was 
doubled  in  length;  the  metal  yardstick  was  doubled  in 
value;  but  each  worked  a  great  wrong  on  him  who  had 
to  deliver  by  such  increased  yardstick  or  increased  dollar, 
and  put  unjust  gain  into  the  pocket  of  him  who  received 
by  either. 

Let  us  consider  the  analogy  in  just  one  point  further. 
Suppose  this  increased  yardstick  was  not  only  endowed 
by  law  with  the  foregoing  qualities,  but  also  with  that  of 
being  the  payment  itself  as  well  as  the  measure  of  the  Payment 
amount.  Then  suppose  cloths  were  the  only  things  to 
be  measured  and  paid  for  in  yardsticks.  Now  say  that 
within  a  given  country  or  area  there  are  one  hundred 
yards  of  cloth  to  be  measured  and  paid  for  in  yardsticks; 
but  the  government  has  furnished  ten  yardsticks  only  tor 
this  country  or  area.  Of  course,  the  ratio  or  proportion 
of  cloth  to  the  yardsticks  must  be  as  ten  to  one,  that  is,  one 
yardstick  would  equal  ten  yards  of  cloth.  Keeping  in 
mind  the  fact  that  nothing  but  yardsticks  could  be  offered 
in  payment  for  cloth,  there  would  be  a  great  scramble  for 
those  yardsticks,  and  they  would  have  to  move  from 
place  to  place  and  from  hand  to  hand  with  lightning  speed 
to  meet  the  demand.  And  if  the  demand  for  them  was 
greater  than  the  supply,  with  all  the  rapidity  of  change 
from  place  to  place  and  hand  to  hand,  then  business  would 


things. 


H2  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

to  that  extent  have  to  stop  ;  because  there  would  be  nothing 
to  pay  with,  to  carry  it  on.     It  is  no  answer  to  this  to  say 

credit  not  that  credit  would  supply  the  deficiency.  That  is  impos- 
sible ;  for  where  there  was  credit  yesterday  or  in  time  past, 
there  must  be  payment  to-day,  or  in  time  present.  Credit 
aids  in  trade  and  commerce,  but  it  does  not  carry  it  on ; 
payment  is  what  carries  it  on. 

In  the  case  supposed,  in  a  most  material  sense,  it  is  true 

The  yard-      the  ten  yardsticks  equal  the  one  hundred  yards  of  cloth. 

aii  other  '  For,  if  it  were  possible,  suppose  it  to  be  the  case  that 
there  was  no  other  business  in  the  country  or  area  but 
this  cloth  business,  measured  and  paid  for  in  yardsticks 
alone,  then  certainly  the  man  who  had  all  the  yardsticks 
would  soon  get  all  the  cloth.  For  the  man  who  had  cloth 
but  no  yardsticks,  but  owed  yardsticks  to  some  third 
man,  would  have  to  go  to  the  man  who  had  all  the  yard- 
sticks to  get  from  him  enough  to  pay  the  demand  on  him. 
The  man  with  all  the  yardsticks  could  put  his  own  price 
on  the  cloth ;  he  would  give,  say,  instead  of  a  yardstick  for 
ten  yards  of  cloth,  only  a  yardstick  for  twenty  yards  of 
cloth.  Thus  for  his  yardsticks  he  would  soon  get  all  the 
cloth  and  one-half  of  the  yardsticks,  too.  And,  of  course, 
then  it  would  only  be  a  matter  of  time  when  all  the  cloth 
and  also  all  the  yardsticks  would  be  owned  by  him. 
Would  there  be  any  essential  difference  in  the  case  men- 
tioned, if  there  were,  instead  of  just  one  thing,  to  wit, 
cloth,  to  be  measured  and  paid  for  in  yardsticks,  and  if 
there  were  various  things,  such  as  ropes,  ribbons,  threads, 
pipes,  irons,  rubber,  lumber,  etc.,  etc.?  Certainly  none; 
only,  the  business  would  cover  a  larger  extent,  requiring  a 
mind  of  larger  grasp  and  comprehension  to  carry  it  on. 
Soon,  in  such  case,  the  man  with  the  ten  yardsticks  would 
get  all  the  things  that  were  measured  and  paid  for  in  them. 
Just  precisely  would  this  be  the  case  with  money,  that 


What  is  Money?  113 

by  which  all  other  things,  commodities,  including  lands, 
are  measured  and  paid  for. 

In  a  most  material  sense,  money  bears  proportion  and 
is  equal  to  all  other  things  ;  for,  as  stated  in  the  yard- 
stick case,  he  who  has  all  the  yardsticks  can  soon  get  all  aii  the  vard- 

.  ...  .     htick*     will 

the  other  things  measured  and  paid  for  in  yardsticks  and  soon  give  a  11 

...  1         1         "    11      1  other    things. 

the  yardsticks  in  addition ;  so  he  who  has  all  the  money 

can  soon  get  all  the  other  things  and  also  the  money,  ah  the 

•  t  1        money    will 

Then  all  the  remainder  of  the  human  race  on  the  earth,  soon  give  ail 

1      tt  11    °*her    t  hi  hi;-.. 

men,  women  and  children,  would  be  his  slaves !  He  could 
say  to  man,  woman  or  child,  "Do  my  bidding  or  starve 
—  die!"  and  refusing  would  be  starvation,  death. 

There  would  be  no  essential  difference  again  if  all  the 
money  were  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men  or  a  corporation, 
or  a  few  corporations,  for  then  the  men  running  the  cor- 
poration or  corporations  could  say  to  man,  woman  or 
child,  "  Do  our  bidding  or  you  starve  —  die  !  "  The 
world  has  made  long  and  rapid  strides  in  that  direction 
within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  What  will  be  the 
condition  within  a  quarter  of  a  century  more,  unless  a 
check  be  found,  is  fearful  to  contemplate ! 

All  the  books  say  that  money  is  the  common  measure 
of  value.  That  must  mean  money  measures  all  values, 
at  least,  in  the  common  and  general  sense  of  the  term.  It 
has  been  shown  that  like  measures  like,  and  that  only  like 
measures  like.  The  unlike  cannot  measure  the  unlike. 
Value,  then,  and  value  only,  can  measure  value.  Then 
the  thing  that  measures  and  the  thing  that  is  measured 
must  equal  each  other.  Of  course,  it  is  not  here  meant  or 
asserted  that  the  yardstick  itself,  in  one  application  to  the 
piece  of  cloth  a  hundred  yards  in  length  equals  the  cloth 
in  length,  but  that  the  yardstick  in  its  one  hundred  appli- 
cations does  equal  the  cloth  in  length.  So  the  yardstick 
multiplied  equals  the  cloth. 
8 


H4  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

So  in  a  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  cloth,  it  is  not  meanr 
or  asserted  that  a  single  dollar  equals  the  cloth  in  value, 
but  the  dollar  in  its  hundred  applications  does  equal  the 
cloth  in  value. 

And  when  we  consider  in  the  supposititious  case  that  the 
yardstick  is  payment  as  well  as  measure,  then  the  equality 
is  apparent  and  perfect.  Then,  too,  all  the  length  to  be 
measured,  which  we  may  call  the  general  length,  and  all 
the  yardsticks  with  their  practicable  applications  to  the 
separate  parts  of  the  general  length  must  be  equal  to 
each  other  in  length ;  and  when  in  the  supposititious  case, 
it  is  considered  that  the  yardstick  is  payment  as  well  as 
measure,  then  all  the  length  to  be  measured  and  the  yard- 
stick in  all  of  its  practicable  applications  to  the  separate 
parts  of  the  general  length,  equals  the  general  length 
in  value,  just  as  it  before  equaled  the  general  length  in 
length. 

So  the  dollar,  being  payment  as  well  as  measure 
in  its  practicable  applications,  equals  all  value,  as  valuable 
things.  The  thing  may  be  conceived  as  if  all  the  length 
to  be  measured  was  in  one  continuous  piece,  as  is  a 
piece  of  cloth,  and  the  thing  measuring  was  in  another 
continuous  piece ;  say,  cloth  a  hundred  yards  long,  the 
thing  to  be  measured,  and  the  yardstick,  measuring 'rod, 
a  hundred  yards  long,  the  thing  that  measures ;  these  two 
certainly  must  equal  each  other,  otherwise  it  is  false 
measure,  either  over  or  under,  either  being  wrong.  Equal- 
ity is  the  thing  demanded. 

Now  all  the  things  to  be  measured  in  value,  that  is,  all 
things  of  all  kinds,  may  be  taken  together  and  considered 
as  one  thing,  giving  us  the  general  concept  of  value ;  and 
the  dollar  in  all  of  its  practicable  applications  to  the  sep- 
arate parts  of  this  general  concept  of  value  may  be  con- 
sidered  as   another  continuous  thing,   like  the  yardstick 


What  is  Money?  i  1 5 

above-  mentioned;  and  surely  these  two  things  must  equal 
each  other,  otherwise  there  will  be  false  measurement  in 

value,  either  over  or  under,  either  being  bad.  Equality 
here,  too,  is  what  is  wanted. 

So  the  dollar  in  its  practicable  application  to  all  value, 
or  valuable  things,  must  equal  that  value  or  those  valuable 
things.  Otherwise  there  will  be  false  measurement  and 
a  want  of  equality.  There  should  be  nice,  proper  and 
suitable  adjustment  of  laws  in  these  matters.  There  is  a 
science  of  social  statics  and  dynamics  here  that  requires  as 
great  skill  in  their  adjustment  as  the  statics  and  dynamics 
of  physics;  yea,  even  greater.  But  that  skill  has  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  been  wanting  in  our  country. 

Those  who  deny  the  equality  between  money  and  value, 
as  so  many  have  so  recklessly  done,  will  also  have  to  deny 
that  "money  is  the  common  measure  of  value."  How 
strange  that  writers,  Spellbinders  and  Gold  Solomons 
will  vociferate  that  "  money  is  the  common  measure  of 
value,"  and  then  deny  that  it  measures  value  —  say  there 
is  no  equality!  Then  if  money  is  not  the  common  meas- 
ure of  value,  what  is  it?  and  they  and  all  the  text-writers 
must  readjust  their  definitions  of  money.  And  if  money, 
the  measure,  does  not  equal  the  commodities,  the  things 
measured,  then  there  is  inequality,  and  therefore  injustice. 
A  fair  measure  of  value  is  needed  as  well  as  a  fair  meas- 
ure of  length,  width,  capacity,  etc.,  etc.  As  false  weights 
and  measures  are  wrong  in  trade  and  business,  so  are  false 
measures  of  value  wrong  in  trade  and  business.  They  are 
a  cheat  and  a  swindle,  because  they  are  concealed.  A  slow 
poison  is  only  known  when  the  effect  appears  in  sickness 
or  death,  so  false  measure  of  value  is  only  known  when 
financial  sickness  and  death  in  the  body  politic  appear, 
that  is,  hard  times,  panic,  and  want  and  starvation. 

Then  it  appears  that  the  dollars  in  their  practicable  ap- 


inent. 


116  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

plications  to  the  values  measure  the  values ;  all  the  dollars 
in  their  practicable  application  to  all  the  values  in  their 
practicable  applications  measure  each  other.  He  who 
denies  the  proposition  denies  that  the  dollars  measure, 
denies  that  "  money  is  the  common  measure  of  value." 
First  step  in     One  of  the  steps  in  the  conspiracy  for  the  world's  en- 

the    world's        .  .  .         . 

enslave-         slavement  was  the  silver  demonetization.    But  this  will  be 
treated  more  fully  in  subsequent  pages. 

MICROPOLIS    AND     MEGALOPOLIS. 

(a.)  Micro polis. —  It  is  believed  that  the  reader  is  now 
in  a  position  to  understand  the  unwritten  history  of  Mi- 
cropolis  and  Megalopolis.  Had  Lemuel  Gulliver  extended 
his  travels  to  the  two  cities  named,  he  might  have  been 
able  to  report  the  following  history  :  — 

Micropolis  is  a  small  island,  situated  in  the  midst  of  the 
largest  ocean,  and  as  yet  neither  boat  nor  ship  from  for- 
eign land  has  touched  on  its  shores.  Its  inhabitants  con- 
sist of  just  one  hundred  souls,  men,  women  and  children, 
whose  bodies  are  in  all  respects  about  as  are  our  own.  Its 
government  is  republican  in  form.  Its  laws,  customs, 
educational  institutions,  etc.,  need  not  be  discussed  here. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Micropolitans  think  them  the  very 
best,  and  are  very  proud  of  them.  Their  monetary  sys- 
tem they  think,  or  rather  did  think,  was  especially  excel- 
lent, and  were  much  given  to  boasting  thereof.  It  con- 
sisted of  gold  coin  alone,  and  amounted  in  all  to  ten  dol- 
lars per  capita ;  but  based  on  this  coin  were  five  kinds  of 
promises  to  pay ;  but  with  those  promises  one  could  not 
pay  his  debt  unless  the  creditor  was  willing  to  take  them 
and  discharge  the  debt ;  the  gold  coin  alone  would  pay 
and  discharge  the  debt.  These  promises  were  printed 
under  government  authority  on  paper  of  different  colors, 
to  wit,  red,  green,  yellow,  blue  and  brown,  white  being 


What  is  Money?  117 

rejected  because  it  would  "  show  dirt  "  so  plainly,  and, 
besides,  it  was  said,  it  was  of  the  color  of  silver,  that 
hated  metal  that  the  Micropolitans  had  rejected.  Here  it 
should  be  stated  that  at  one  time  silver  coin  and  gold  coin 
constituted  the  only  money  of  the  island,  there  being  equal 
amounts  of  each,  ten  dollars  in  silver  and  ten  dollars  in 
gold,  making  in  all  twenty  dollars  per  capita.  But  one 
time,  some  years  before  the  period  of  which  we  are  writ- 
ing, a  strange  disease  broke  out  on  the  island,  something 
very  much  resembling:  "  yellow  jaundice,"  and  their  Wit-  witenage- 

•  ,•  mote. 

enagemote  (meaning  in  Micropohtanese,  Parliament,  or 
General  Assembly)  was  so  much  affected  by  it  that  its 
members  generally  went  to  sleep  for  a  whole  session. 
When  they  woke  up,  it  was  ascertained  that  there  was  on 
the  statute  book  a  statute  that  silver  coin  should  no  longer 
be  used  as  money,  and  that  no  debt  could  be  paid  except  in 
gold  coin.  No  one  could  tell  how  the  statute  got  on  the 
statute  book,  but  sure  it  was  there !  The  sleep  of  the 
"  yellow  jaundice  "  was  so  deep  and  profound  that  the 
people  and  the  Witenagemote  both  had  permitted  the 
statute  to  remain  on  the  statute  book ;  and  they  have 
obeyed  it  up  to  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing,  although 
the  constitution  of  the  government  of  Micropolis  plainly 
says  that  silver  coin  as  well  as  gold  coin  shall  be  the  money 
of  Micropolis. 

Now  there  was  living  at  this  time  among  the  Micro- 
politans a  very  "  long-headed,"  shrewd  man  by  the  name 
of  Nagrom.  Having  a  genius  for  finance,  and  being  a  Nagrom. 
"  Napoleon  of  finance,"  Nagrom,  like  his  prototype  in  war 
at  the  siege  of  Toulon,  saw  the  situation  and  acted.  He 
said :  — 

'  These  Micropolitans  are  unwise,  they  are  like  unto 
the  Ninevites,  'not  knowing  their  right  band  from  their 
left.'     They  think  the  measure  of  value  in  Micropolis  is 


n8  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  gold  coin,  the  red  paper,  the  green  paper,  the  yellow 
paper,  the  blue  paper  and  the  brown  paper,  making  in  all 
twenty  dollars  per  capita,  twenty  dollars  for  each  man, 
woman  and  child ;  and,  as  there  are  one  hundred  capita 
(heads),  twenty  dollars  multiplied  by  the  one  hundred 
will  make  two  thousand  dollars  in  all.  This  is  the  appar- 
ent measure  of  value,  the  real  measure  of  value  is  the  sum 
of  ten  dollars  per  capita,  and  ten  dollars  multiplied  by  one 
hundred  make  one  thousand  dollars. 

"  Now  the  people  in  their  trade  and  business  think,  and 
they  act  on  the  thought,  that  there  are  two  thousand  dol- 
lars in  money  in  Micropolis,  arriving  at  that  amount  thus: 
there  are  one  hundred  heads,  each  head  having  ten  dollars 
in  gold  coin,  and  also  ten  dollars  in  the  red,  green,  blue 
and  brown  paper,  making  in  all  twenty  dollars  per  capita 
($20  X  1 00  =  $2,000).  The  truth  being  that  there  are 
only  one  thousand  dollars  in  money,  the  real  money 
being  the  gold  coin    ($10  X  too  =  $1,000). 

"  Again,  the  people  think,  and  they  act  on  the  thought 
that  those  two  thousand  dollars  in  (apparent)  money  con- 
stitute the  measure  of  value  of  all  their  property,  that 
is,  of  all  the  property  in  Micropolis.  Hence  they  in 
their  trade  and  business,  buying  and  selling,  value  each  his 
Apparent  property  on  that  apparent  basis,  to  wit,  that  all  of  the 
basis!  money  amounts  to  two  thousand  dollars  instead  of  on  the 

true  basis,  that  all  of  the  money  amounts  to  only  one  thou- 
sand dollars.  Accordingly  each  one  measures  his  own 
property  by  the  apparent  and  not  by  the  real  measure,  by 
the  two  thousand  dollars  ($2,000)  instead  of  the  one 
thousand  dollars  ($1,000),  in  the  apparent  as  well  as  in 
•  the  real  money,  and  makes  it  four  hundred  dollars  ($400) 
instead  of  two  hundred  dollars  ($200)  per  capita. 

'  This  makes  the  value  of  all  the  property  in  Micropolis 
estimated  or  expressed  in  money  as  forty  thousand  dollars 


What  is  Money?  1 19 

($40,000).  Thus:  one  hundred  heads  (capita),  each  head 
having  four  hundred  dollars,  would  make  forty  thousand 
dollars  ($400  X  1 00  =  $40,000),  instead  of  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars.  Thus  one  hundred  heads,  each  having  two 
hundred  dollars,  would  make  twenty  thousand  dollars 
($200  X  1 00  =  $20,000).  The  forty  thousand  dollars 
($40,000)  is  the  apparent  measure  of  value  of  all  the 
property  in  Micropolis,  but  the  real  measure  thereof  is 
only  twenty  thousand  dollars  ($20,000)." 

Thus  said  Nagrom,  and  thus  in  addition  said  Nagrom: 
"  Now  each  Micropolitan  himself  measures  his  own  prop- 
erty at  double  its  real  value,  and  he  likewise  measures  the 
property  of  others  in  the  same  manner  —  at  double  its  real 
value.  As  I  have  a  very  large  amount  of  property,  I  shall 
immediately  sell  it  all,  convert  it  into  money  at  this  appar- 
ent measure  of  value.  [For  it  is  not  to  be  understood 
by  the  statement  above  made  that  each  Micropolitan  had 
four  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  property,  that  it  was  in- 
tended to  mean  that  each  himself  individually  had  just 
exactly  that  much.  No ;  the  meaning  was  that  that  was 
the  per  capita,  some  having  more,  much  more,  and  some 
having  less,  much  less  ;  but  the  average  was  four  hundred 
dollars  for  each  one.] 

"  Having  now  sold  my  property  and  gotten  into  my 
possession  ten  thousand  dollars  in  gold  coin,  the  real 
measure  of  value  of  all  the  property,  I  will  simply  lock 
that  up  in  my  '  strong  box,'  where  no  one  can  get  to  it." 

Then  he  proceeded  as  follows :  The  money,  mind  you. 
was  not  put  in  a  bank.  Nagrom  was  too  shrewd  for 
that;  banks  have  failed,  and  banks  might  again  fail,  and 
that  would  be  awkward. 

Nagrom  had  ten  thousand  dollars,  one  half  of  the  real 
money  of  Micropolis.  There  were  out  of  his  possession, 
and  in  circulation  among  the  people,  ten  thousand  dollars 


120  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

of  real  money  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  of  apparent 
money,  things  generally  called  money,  but  things  that 
would,  could  not  pay  debts,  the  red,  the  green,  the  yellow, 
the  blue  and  the  brown  paper. 

Nagrom  now  goes  to  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Simplex  Gold 
Solomon,  the  president  of  the  bank,  and  says,  "  Simplex, 
old  boy,  how  are  you  ?  "  "  Feeling  quite  well,  thank  you." 
"  How  about  your  reserves  ?  "  "  Reserves  all  right,  too ; 
more  than  twenty-five  per  cent."  After  some  moments  of 
apparent  meditation :  "  Simplex,  I'll  take  a  loan  from  you, 
if  you  desire."  "  Of  course,  glad  to  put  our  money  with 
you;  how  much?"  Again  meditation.  "Well,  say  five 
thousand.  I  may  not  have  use  for  it,  but  I  would  like  to 
be  sure,  and  when  I  get  through  with  it,  I  can  return  it." 
"  What  interest  shall  I  have  put  in  the  note,  Mr.  Nag- 
rom?" "O  what  you  please.  I  care  very  little  about 
that ;  small  matter,  small  matter."  '  Two  per  cent  a 
month,  then?  "  "  Certainly,  if  you  desire."  "  What  time 
note  to  run,  Mr.  Nagrom  ?  "  "As  long  as  you  please  ;  two 
years,  if  you  like." 

Simplex  Gold  Solomon  thinks  this  "  is  fine,"  "  good 
customer,  heavy  interest,  and  I'll  make  it  therefore  long 
time.  All  these  bring  in  money,  and  also  give  the  bank 
commercial  standing."  Note  is  signed.  Then :  "  By  the 
way,  Simplex,  how  much  gold  have  you  on  hand  ? " 
"About  seven  thousand."  '  Well,  let  this  five  thousand 
be  in  gold."  So  Nagrom  got  his  five  thousand  in  gold. 
This  too  he  put  in  his  "  strong  box."  Now  he  has  in  his 
individual  control  three  fourths  iY\)  of  the  real  money, 
the  real  measure  of  value,  of  Micropolis.  Of  the  twenty 
thousand  dollars  he  has  ten  in  his  own  right  and  five  in 
his  legal  control  for  two  years.  Nagrom  then  seems  to 
retire  from  "  the  business  world."  Nothing  is  seen  of 
him   for  some   time. 


What  is  Money?  121 

In  the  meantime,  men  go  on  in  business,  trading,  buy- 
ing and  selling  —  all  on  the  old  basis,  the  basis  that  there 
are  forty  thousand  dollars  in  Micropolis,  that  the  general  The  general 
measure  of  all  the  property  of  Micropolis  is  forty  thou-  value, 
sand  dollars. 

After  a  time,  three-fourths  of  the  real  money  being  thus 
withdrawn  from  circulation,  some  "  financial  stringency  " 
begins  to  be  felt.  The  banks  lend  largely,  and  still  a 
stringency  is  reported  in  the  monetary  affairs.  Suddenly 
the  report  is  in  circulation  that  Mr.  Nagrom  has  retired 
from  business,  and  having  considerable  money  on  hand, 
he  is  very  generously  coming  to  the  assistance  of  "  de- 
serving persons,"  and  lending  on  very  reasonable  terms, 
and  at  short  times  of  payment,  so  that  by  thus  turning  the 
money  over  at  short  intervals,  as  soon  as  each  gets  out  of 
his  own  financial  strait,  he  can  assist  so  many  more.  Mr. 
Nagrom  is  much  lauded  for  his  generosity  and  humanity. 
The  borrowing  is  brisk,  and  consequently  business  is 
brisk,  and  for  a  while  the  "  goose  hawks  high."  "The  goose 

Again,  after  a  time  the  majority  of  the  Micropolitans  high.'" 
are  indebted  to  Mr.   Nagrom  in  amounts   more  or  less 
large ;  but  they  do  not  at  all  fear  pressure  from  so  benev- 
olent a  gentleman  as  Mr.  Nagrom ! 

Soon  sympathetic  people  are  distressed  at  the  news  that 
has  just  leaked  out  that  the  philanthropic  Mr.  Nagrom, 
he  who  so  generously  assisted  so  many  needy  and  de- 
serving people  in  the  late  financial  crisis,  is  now  himself, 
and  by  reason  of  that  very  assistance,  in  financial  embar- 
rassment! A  wave  of  sympathy  passes  over  Micropolis, 
and  thrills  the  nerves  of  all. 

In  business  circles  it  is  now  stated  that  Mr.  Nagrom 
has  been  compelled  to  instruct  his  attorneys  to  collect  all 
that  they  can  on  his  claims,  so  that,  if  possible,  he  may 
meet  the  demands  made  upon  him,  and  that  Mr.  Nagrom's 


122  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Mr.  Nagrom's  health  is  so  impaired  by  the  nervous  shock  that  followed 
on  the  result  of  his  losses  that  he  will  retire  to  some  quiet 
place  and  endeavor  to  regain  it. 

"Heartless  Then  through  the  agency  of  the  heartless  lawyers, 
suits  are  commenced.  Mr.  Nagrom  has  two  years  by  his 
contract  in  which  to  pay  back  the  money  that  he  bor- 
rowed from  the  bank,  but  the  debts  of  his  numerous 
debtors  are  now  already  due. 

Typical  case.  Take  one  case,  typical  of  many  that  followed  Mr. 
Nagrom 's  suits :  — 

Mr.  A  owed  Mr.  Nagrom  one  hundred  dollars,  and 
when  Mr.  Nagrom's  lawyer  called  for  the  money,  Mr.  A 
handed  him  a  check  on  the  bank.  The  lawyer  said,  "  Well, 
if  this  check  is  paid  in  gold  coin,  all  right ;  but  if  not,  then 
I  shall  return  it,  and  you  must  pay  me  the  money,  the  gold 
coin.  On  presentation  of  the  check  to  the  bank,  the  cashier 
offers  the  lawyer  the  hundred  dollars  in  red  paper.  The 
lawyer  refuses  it  because  it  is  not  tender,  and  so  states.  A 
similar  offer  is  made  in  green  paper,  with  similar  result. 
Then  are  made  in  succession  offers  of  yellow  paper,  blue 
paper  and  brown  paper ;  and  finally  offer  is  made  in  silver 
coin,  some  of  that  which  had  been  coined  before  the  en- 
actment of  the  statute  declaring  silver  coin  should  not  pay 
debts,  and  some  after  the  said  enactment.  But  all  are  re- 
fused, and  the  ground  of  the  refusal  is  stated  to  be  because 
none  of  the  things  offered  were  tender. 

The  lawyer  then  returns  to  Mr.  A  and  informs  him  that 
the  bank  refuses  payment  of  the  check,  and  demands  the 
money  clue  to  Mr.  Nagrom.  Mr.  A  rushes  to  the  bank 
and  demands  to  know  why  payment  is  refused,  reminding 
the  bank  officials  that  his  credit  balance  is  one  hundred 
dollars,  and  yet  his  one  hundred  dollar  check  is  refused 
payment!  The  bank  officials  inform  him  of  what  had 
taken  place.     Mr.  A  then  endeavors  to  get  the  gold  coin 


What  is   Money?  123 

from  the  bank  and  also  elsewhere,  but  he  cannot.  He  then 
goes  back  to  the  bank,  and  gets  a  hundred  dollars  in  red 
paper,  a  hundred  in  green  paper,  a  hundred  in  yellow 
paper,  a  hundred  in  blue  paper,  a  hundred  in  brown  paper 
and  a  hundred  in  silver  coin,  and  then  goes  and  offers  each 
of  these  in  succession  to  the  lawyer  of  Mr.  Nagrom  ;  but 
each  offer  is  refused,  the  lawyer  stating  the  reason  of  each 
refusal  to  be  that  no  one  of  them  is  tender,  that  he  will 
take  gold  coin  in  payment,  and  nothing  else.  Mr.  A 
makes  other  efforts  to  get  the  gold  coin,  but  fails.  He 
has  thus  in  hand  six  hundred  dollars  in  so-called  money, 
and  he  has  besides  this  five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 
property,  and  yet  suit  is  brought  against  him,  his  prop- 
erty is  attached,  his  business  broken  up,  judgment  for  the 
hundred  dollars  and  the  cost  of  the  suit  is  docketed  against 
him.  All  his  property  is  put  up  and  sold  by  public  auc- 
tion. Mr.  Nagrom's  agent  is  there  with  sufficient  gold 
coin  in  hand  to  bid  in  all  the  property  for  the  amount  of 
the  judgment  and  costs,  and  so  bids,  and  Mr.  A  goes  forth 
a  ruined  man  !  Think  of  it,  he  has  five  times  the  amount 
of  the  debt  in  property,  and  it  all  goes  for  the  debt! 

A  similar  process  is  soon  applied  to  Mr.  B,  Mr.  C,  Mr. 
D  and  many  others,  until  at  length  all  the  property,  both 
personal  and  real,  including  the  gold  coin,  has  passed  by 
regular  proceedings  in  the  honorable,  the  judicial,  tri- 
bunals of  Micropolis  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Nagrom. 

At  this  juncture  the  keel  of  a  foreign  steamer  for  the 
first  time  touches  the  shore  of  Micropolis.  The  captain 
of  it  is  a  sagacious  man,  and  soon  learns  the  importance 
of  Mr.  Nagrom  in  this  new-found  state.  In  conversation 
with  Air.  Nagrom,  he  inquires  of  him  how  he,  a  private 
citizen,  had  managed  to  acquire  all  the  "  lands,  property, 
and  money"  of  Micropolis.  On  being  informed,  he  said, 
"Mr.  Nagrom,  von  are  wasting  vour  life."     Mr.  Nagrom 


124  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

rejoined,  "  How  so?  "  "  Thus  :  this  is  no  place  for  such  a 
man  as  you.  Micropolis  is  too  small.  You  have  con- 
quered all,  everything  here  ;  there  is  no  ambition  left  for 
you  here,  nothing  to  do ;  life  here  will  '  stale  upon  you.'  ' 
Mr.  Nagrom  responded,  "  Well,  I  confess  that  for  some 
time  I  have  had  a  feeling  of  weariness,  but  did  not  know 
what  to  do,  and  even  now  I  can  see  nothing  ahead  for  me. 
So  I  guess  I  must  just  tough  it  out."  '  Pshaw,  man, 
that  is  no  way  to  do,  that  is  no  way  to  look  at  the  matter." 
"  What  then?  "  "  Get  up  all  your  gold  coin  and  all  your 
title  deeds  to  your  lands,  and  all  your  judgments  and  bills 
of  sale  for  your  personal  property  and  ship  with  me. 
secretly.  I'll  show  you  what  to  do.  You  need  Megalop- 
olis, and  Megalopolis  needs  you." 

Mr.  Nagrom  accordingly  gatbers  up  all  his  gold  coin, 
all  his  deeds  of  lands  and  bills  of  sale  of  personal 
property,  and  sails  in  Captain  Landcleave's  steamer. 
Soon  they  land  at  the  capital  of  the  Empress  of  the  East. 
There,  on  the  recommendation  of  Captain  Landcleave,  and 
his  vouching  that  the  titles  were  good,  he  disposes  of  all 
of  bis  lands,  personal  property  and  all  of  his  people  in 
Micropolis  at  a  good  round  sum,  and  again  sails  in  Cap- 
tain Landcleave's  steamer  for  Megalopolis,  where  a  favor- 
able voyage  soon  lands  them. 

Let  us  here  take  a  parting  glance  at  Micropolis.  About 
a  week  after  the  sailing  of  Captain  Landcleave  a  rumor 
arose  that  the  distress  of  the  people  of  Micropolis  so 
worked  upon  the  tender  feelings  of  Mr.  Nagrom  that  his 
mind  became  unbalanced,  and  that  in  a  fit  of  melancholia 
he  tbrew  himself  from  a  cliff  that  projected  over  at  a 
point  on  the  island  and  was  drowned.  The  public  grief 
was  great.  Many  beautiful  eulogiums  were  spoken  and 
written  to  his.  memory,  and  a  classic  marble  sbaft,  tall 
and  symmetrical,  has  been  erected  to  his  memory  at  the 


What  is  Money?  125 

spot  where  his  untimely  end  came.    On  it  is  the  brief  but 
impressive  legend  — 

Requicscat  in  pace.      [Rest  in  peace.] 

(b.)  Megalopolis. —  Some  months  after  the  event  nar- 
rated in  the  preceding  division  occurred,  the  Megalopolitan 
great  dailies,  the  Universe,  the  Nebula,  the  Star-Dust, 
etc.,  had  announcements  somewhat  as  follows :  — 

'  It  is  definitely  ascertained  now  that  the  great  world- 
famous  financier,  Mr.  Nagrom,  has  arrived  in  Meg- 
alopolis, and  at  least  for  some  considerable  time  will  re- 
main among  vis." 

The  great  event  passed  out  of  the  public  mind,  as 
great  events  are  wont  to  do,  and  the  Megalopolitans  went 
about  their  usual  avocations,  working,  struggling,  buying, 
selling,  "  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage." 

It  was  at  first  supposed  that  a  history  of  Megalopolis, 
given  somewhat  in  detail,  should  here  be  inserted,  but  on 
reflection  two  considerations  forbid  :  ( 1 )  The  space  neces- 
sary therefor  cannot  be  obtained;  and  (2)  the  details  are 
too  harrowing  and  sickening.  Therefore  a  few  general 
remarks  only  will  be  made.  Its  history  was  in  general 
very  similar  to  that  heretofore  given  of  Micropolis,  only  it 
took  a  longer  time,  required  a  wider  reach  of  intellectual 
vision  to  grasp  the  situation,  and  instead  of  one  man 
owning  all  the  property,  it  required  syndicates,  corpora- 
tions, corporations  of  corporations  and  trusts.  These, 
however,  all  these,  followed,  and  soon  the  Megalopolitans 
found  that  they  could  get  neither  a  beefsteak  nor  coal  with 
which  to  cook  it  without  bowing  in  servile  submission  to  a 
few  men  who  controlled  these  syndicates,  corporations, 
corporations  of  corporations  and  trusts.  Then  Megalopolis 
passed  under  the  complete  domination  of  industrial  and 
economic  tyranny,  and  its  inhabitants,  while  glorying  in 


126  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

their  fancied  freedom,  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  educa- 
tional institutions,  and,  in  short,  general  excellence  and 
superiority  to  all  the  world,  found  that  the  names  only  of 
all  those  things  remained  to  them,  but  the  substance  had 
fled,  and  that  they  were  indeed  industrial  and  economic 
slaves. 

They  realized  the  difference  between  a  real  and  an  ap- 
parent measure  of  value.  And  when  the  whole  thing:  was 
accomplished,  they  would  in  the  brief  intervals  that  they 
sometimes  obtained  between  the  hours  of  severe  toil,  talk 
it  over  among  themselves.  At  such  times  one  might  often 
hear  them  say  that  they  wondered  then  at  their  former 
blindness ;  that  they  had  often  seen  the  statements  made 

••Ninety-five  by  statisticians  and  others  that  ninety-five  (95)  per  cent 
oi  the  men  who  entered  into  business  failed,  and  that 
but  five  (5)  per  cent  succeeded;  but  that  they  had  always 
accepted  the  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  given  by 
the  Gold  Solomons,  that  the  failures  were  due  to  a  want 
of  business  sagacity,  that  such  things  must  in  the  very 
nature  of  things  occur,  and  that  "  all  could  not  draw  the 
prize  in  the  lottery  of  business !  "  They  said  that  they 
never  for  a  moment  dreamed  that  such  explanations  im- 

" Ninety-five  plied   (i)   that  ninety-five   (05)   per  cent  of  the  men  in 

fools-  business  were  fools!  (2)  that  "if  such  things  must  in  the 

very  nature  of  things  occur,"  then  that  God  had  made  man 

world  made  and  the  world  wrong,  and  that  his  work  and  conduct  were 

wrong. 

impeachable;  and    (3)    that   "if  all   could  not  draw  the 

Business  on  prize  in  the  lottery — business,"  why  was  business  organized 

s"on  the  basis  of  a  lottery  ?    Why  was  there  but  one  prize  in 

business,   or,   according  to  the  statistical   statement,   but 

five  prizes  in  the  hundred  in  business? 

These  things  seemed  obvious  and  plain  after  the  whole 
mischief  had  happened.  But  there  was  no  remedy ;  the 
poor  Megalopolitans  toiled  and  thought,  and  sighed  and 


What  is  Money?  127 

regretted,  but  that  was  all.     The  law  had  wrought  their 
ruin,  even  while  they  were  praising,  adoring  the  law. 

We  must  here  take  leave  of  the  Megalopolitans,  even 
in  their  distress,  and  go  on  to  the  next  subdivision  of  the 
section. 

The  Second  Characteristic:  Money  the  Common 
Medium  of  Exchange. —  After  what  has  already  been 
stated,  it  would  seem  that  little  need  be  said  on  this  topic. 
Of  course,  money  is  the  common  medium  of  exchange, 
as  stated  elsewhere,  under  the  "  characteristics  "  of  money, 
giving  that  term  a  distinctive  meaning  in  that  connection, 
getting  its  power  to  be  such  medium  from  its  power  to 
be  a  common  measure  of  value,  and  getting  its  power  to 
be  a  common  measure  of  value  from  its  compulsory  power 
to  pay  debts  and  discharge  obligations,  whether  the  cred- 
itor or  obligee  is  willing  or  unwilling  that  it  should  so 
pay  and  discharge,  and  getting  this  power  so  to  pay  and 
discharge  from  its  power  or  quality  of  tender,  and  getting 
the  power  of  tender  from  the  law,  and  the  law  only !  Thus 
all  money  is  money  simply  by  the  fiat  of  the  law-making 
power  of  the  government,  and  consequently  is  simply  fiat  Fiat  money. 
money.  And  he  who  says  to  the  contrary,  or  ridicules  or 
abuses  the  man  who  does  so  say,  as  thousands  of  Gold 
Solomons  and  Spellbinders  have  done  in  late  years,  is 
justly  subject  to  the  charge  of  ignorance  or  dishonesty. 

Even  at  the  risk  of  tedious  and  unnecessary  repetition, 
a  risk  most  keenly  felt  by  the  author,  the  matter  will  be 
briefly  stated  in  another  form. 

Logically,  and  by  the  most  rigid  ratiocination  at  that, 
going  strictly  from  cause  to  effect  all  the  way  through, 
the  case  is  this  :  — 

The  law  makes  tender;  tender  makes  compulsory  pay- 
ment of  debts  and  discharge  of  obligations ;  compulsory 
payment  of  debts  and  discharge  of  obligations  makes  com- 


128  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

mon  measure  of  value ;  and  common  measure  of  value 
makes  common  medium  of  exchange. 

Two  Great  Blunders. —  Some  writers,  and  even  those 
of  great  fame,  failing  to  perceive,  or,  if  perceiving,  will- 
fully ignoring  this  relation  of  cause  and  effect  between 
the  law,  through  tender  down,  as  stated,  to  common  me- 
dium of  exchange,  make  two  grievous  blunders  :  ( I )  They 
ridicule  the  idea  of  "  fiat  money,"  and  (2)  think  and  say 
that  the  main  thing  about  money  is  that  it  is  the  common 
medium  of  exchange.  This  is  to  make  the  mistake  of 
saying  that  the  main  thing  about  a  railway  train  is  the 
Palace  car.  Pullman  palace  car.  True,  to  the  passenger  intent  on  his 
own  comfort  and  convenience  alone,  not  thinking  or  car- 
ing for  anything  else,  the  palace  car  is  the  main  thing 
about  the  train  But  to  the  man  of  thought  and  reflection, 
the  steam  cylinder,  with  the  expansive  power  of  steam 
therein,  is  the  main  thing  about  the  train.  That  is  the 
thing  that  makes  all  the  other  things,  including  the  palace 
car,  "  go." 

Let  the  steam  cylinder  be  disabled,  and  all  stops ;  let 
the  palace  car  be  disabled,  it  alone  stops,  all  the  others  can 
go  on.  So  take  away  from  money  the  law-given  power 
of  tender,  and  all  other  things  connected  with  it,  including 
power  to  be  a  common  medium  of  exchange,  instantly 
cease. 

It  is  easily  perceived  how  writers,  looking  on  the  sur- 
face alone,  should  suppose  that  the  exchanging  function 
of  money  is  its  main  function,  because  that  is  conspicuous, 
obvious  to  the  view  of  all.  A  late  very  profound  writer, 
seeking  for  a  definition  of  money,  goes  to  a  little  child  to 
get  it.  The  little  child  says,  "  Money  is  what  you  buy 
things  with."  The  same  definition  was  given  to  the  author 
within  the  past  week  by  a  man  who  prides  himself  on 
his   clear  head  and  hard  common  sense.     But  just   im- 


What  is  Money?  129 

agine  a  common  medium  of  exchange  with  which  you 
could  not  pay  a  debt !  Of  course,  anything  can,  in  an 
individual  case,  be  special  medium  of  exchange  in  that  Special  me- 
case.  This  was  shown  many  pages  back  in  the  case  where  change. 
A  wanted  B's  cow,  but  B  did  not  want  A's  horse,  so 
A  first  gave  his  horse  to  C  for  C's  watch,  and  then  gave 
the  watch  to  B  for  B's  cow.  Unquestionably  the  watch 
was  the  medium  by  which  the  transaction  was  carried  on, 
by  which  A  got  B's  cow.  But  money  is  the  only  thing 
that  can  be  a  common  medium  of  exchange,  and  a  common 
medium  is  all  that  is  needed  in  trade,  business,  and  com- 
merce.    Perhaps  nothing  could  be  a  universal  medium  of  No   universal 

11  1  1  1  c  medium   of 

exchange,  because  all  things  are  not  exchangeable,     borne  exchange. 
things  are  neither  for  sale  nor  exchange,  and  in  the  cases 
of  such  things  nothing  could  be  their  medium  of  exchange, 
because  they  have  no  exchange.     And  even  among  the 
things  that  are  exchangeable,  it  is  perhaps  possible  that 
there   is   no   universal   medium   of  exchange,   because   it 
might  perhaps  possibly  occur  that  a  person  might  have 
some  one  certain  thing  that  he  would  not  exchange  except 
for  one  certain  other  thing.     Then  of  course  there  could 
be  no  medium  between  those  two  things.    If  the  exchange 
could  be  made  at  all,  it  would  have  to  be  direct  exchange,  Direct  ex- 
giving  one  thing  for  another  thing,  that  is,  barter.     The  barter.' 
non-exchangeables  either  by  barter  or  money  need  not  be 
discussed  here. 

In  this  world  the  most  glaring,  striking,  flaring  objeet 
to  the  sight  is  not  the  important  or  main  one  in  merit;  if 
so,  the  blanket,  flaming  advertising  bills  of  the  circus  or 
theater  would  be  superior  to  the  canvas  of  Angelo.  The 
most  ear-piercing  and  loud-roaring  sounds  are  not  the 
most  pleasing  or  attractive  to  the  ear  ;  if  so,  the  mouthings 
and  roarings  of  the  "blatherskite," — almost  was  said 
Spellbinder  —  would  be  superior  to  the  convincing 
9 


130  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

words  of  the  genuine  orator  or  those  of  the  man  of  sound 
thinking  and  fairness  in  argument.  The  raging  of  the 
tempest  is  more  striking  to  the  senses  of  man,  but  the  rays 
of  the  "  far-darting  "  Apollo,  the  calm  sunshine,  are  far 
more  useful  to  him.  The  glaring  and  the  effective  are 
often  quite  in  contrast  to  each  other.  So  it  is  with  money, 
the  exchanging  power  thereof  is  the  glaring,  but  debt 
paying  is  the  effective. 

If  the  reader  will  now  turn  to  page  35  and  read  again 
the  definitions  of  "  money,"  "  currency  "  and  "  legal  ten- 
der "  there  quoted  from  one  of  the  latest  writers,  Charles 
S.  Devas,  in  his  work  entitled  "  Political  Economy,"  pub- 
lished in  1 90 1  in  London  and  in  New  York  and  Bombay, 
striking  in-  he  will  see  a  striking  instance  of  confusion  and  error, 

stances  of  .  r  .    ..  .  .. 

logical  con-  coming  from  failure  to  grasp  the  true  concept  of  money. 
error.  '         The  first  statement  there  made  is  as  follows :  — 

"  Money  is  any  exchangeable  good  which  is  both  a 
medium  of  exchange  and  a  measure  of  value."  This  def- 
inition of  money  distinguishes  it  from  no  commodity. 
Every  commodity,  from  a  pocketknife  to  a  steam  engine, 
has  every  attribute  and  quality  and  characteristic  and 
incident  there  ascribed  to  money.  To  show  in  detail, 
every  commodity  is  ( 1)  a  "  good  ;  "  (2)  it  is  an  exchange- 
able "  good  ;  "  (3)  it  is  a  medium  of  exchange  ;  and  (4)  it 
is  a  measure  of  value." 

The  second  statement  is  :  "  Currency  is  any  medium  of 
exchange  which  is  current  in  a  certain  region,  that  is  to 
say,  which  circulates  there,  which,  as  a  rule,  every  one 
there  will  take  in  exchange." 

That  is  simply  to  say  that  currency  is  currency !  Let 
us  analyze  a  little :  the  elements  or  factors  of  currency  are 
—  (1)  a  medium  of  exchange  ;  (2)  it  is  current  (currency 
is  current!)  ;  (3)  it  circulates  (this  is  precisely  the  same 
as  current,  hence  the  third  point  is  the  same  as  the  sec- 


What  is  Money?  131 

ond)  ;  and  (4)  it  is  something  which,  as  a  rule,  every  one- 
there  (that  is,  in  the  circle  of  circulation)  will  take  in 
exchange.  This  again  is  the  same  as  the  second  and  third 
points,  and  is  merely  saying  that  currency  is  currency  ! 
that  what  circulates  circulates  !  that  a  circle  is  circular  or  a 
circle !  It  would  seem  that  further  comment  on  this  point 
were  unnecessary. 

The  third  statement  is :  "  Legal  tender  is  any  medium  of 
exchange  which  every  one  must  by  law  take  in  exchange, 
unless  he  has  previously  made  a  special  arrangement  to 
the  contrary  with  the  other  party  to  any  contract." 

Not,  indeed,  is  it  an  easy  task  to  analyze  such  a  jumble. 
This  author  is  not  selected  here  for  criticism  because  of 
there  being  absurdities  in  him  greater  than  in  the  others. 
No,  all  are  equally  confused,  illogical  and  absurd  on  this 
subject.    He  is  selected  because  he  is  one  of  the  latest. 

Again  to  analyze :  The  qualities  or  characteristics  of 
"legal  tender"  are — (1)  a  medium  of  exchange  (re- 
member anything  can  be  a  medium  of  exchange)  ;  (2) 
such  a  medium  of  exchange  as  "  every  one  must  by  law 
take  in  exchange,  unless  he  has  previously  made  a  special 
arrangement  to  the  contrary." 

That  is,  he  must  take  it  in  exchange  unless  he  prefers  Must  take  it 
not  to  do  so.  Think  of  a  "  legal  tender  "  that  one  can  prefers  not  to. 
neither  make  legal  nor  tender,  as  if  it  were  possible  to  have 
any  tender  that  is  not  legal!  As  heretofore  shown,  an 
offer  in  payment  or  discharge  which  the  law  does  not  say 
pays  or  discharges  is  not  a  tender.  If  such  an  offer  were 
pleaded  in  court  the  answer  thereto  would  be  "  no  tender." 
that  is  to  deny  the  tender. 

If  the  citizen  has  the  right  or  power  to  say  what  is 
lender,  then  there  is  no  tender.  For  until  the  citizen 
speaks,  the  tender  cannot  be  known,  and  when  he  speaks 
he  may  make  anything  a  tender ;  therefore  the  possible 


132  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

tender  is  anything  "  in  the  heavens  above,  the  earth  be- 
neath, or  the  waters  under  the  earth."  and  the  actual  ten- 
der is  nothing!  that  is,  there  is  no  actual  tender! 

Under  these  definitions  of  "legal  tender"  and 
"Lepi  ten- money  it  is  quite  doubtful  whether  "legal  tender"  is 
money.  money  or  not !     According  to  them  money  has  four  ele- 

ments :  (1)  "good;"  (2)  exchangeability;  (3)  medium; 
and  (4)  measure;  and  "legal  tender"  has  but  two:  (1) 
a  medium;  and  (2)  compulsoriness  (and  even  that  com- 
pulsoriness  is  drawn  back  as  with  "  a  cart  rope  "  when- 
ever one  party  says,  no  compulsoriness!).  Of  course, 
there  is  nothing  of  compulsion  with  such  a  limitation.  If 
there  is  any  clear  or  definite  or  comprehensible  meaning  to 
these  definitions,  or  this  definition,  it  would  seem  that 
"  legal  tender  "  is  excluded  from  the  category  of  money ! 
Analyses  of  all  the  definitions  of  money  given  on 
pages  34-48  of  this  work,  and  of  all  others  that  the  author 
has  ever  read,  afford  no  better  results.  All  are  vague, 
uncertain,  foggy,  misty,  contradictory  and  fragmentary, 
and  make  no  distinction  between  money  and  any  article  of 
trade  or  commerce,  or  any  commodity.  Surely  such  def- 
initions of  money,  or  of  anything  else,  are  worthless ;  yea, 
they  are  more  than  worthless,  they  are  mischievous  and 
harmful,  leading  to  false  valuations,  speculation  and 
panic,  and  also  to  misery  and  woe.    • 

The  Incidents  of  Money. —  (1)  That  money  is  a 
standard  of  measure  or  standard  of  deferred  payments.  Of  course 
ments?  y"it  has  this  incident,  and  also  the  incident  of  being  a  meas- 
ure or  standard  of  every  deferred  or  undischarged  obliga- 
tion, whether  that  obligation  be  to  deliver  at  a  future  date 
some  commodity,  or  whether  it  arises  from  a  tort,  that  is, 
injury  inflicted  by  one  person  upon  another  without  and 
independent  of  contract.  Money  is  the  ultimate  solvent 
of  all  obligations  in  business,  trade  and  commerce,  whether 


What  is  Money?  133 

considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  law  or  that  of 
"  economics."  (2)  The  second  and  last  incident  that 
need  be  considered  here  is  that  money  is  a  storer  of  value.  storer  of 
This,  although  perhaps  cutting  little  figure  in  the  solution 
of  the  question,  What  is  money  ?  is  a  very  important  mat- 
ter in  true  statesmanship  and  ethics  and  ordinary  fair 
dealing  between  man  and  man. 

Is  money  a  storer  of  value  as  well  as  a  measure  of  value 
and  a  medium  of  exchange? — Most  assuredly.  A  man 
labors  for  twenty  years  in  raising  wheat.  Instead  of 
storing  the  product  of  each  year  in  an  "  elevator,"  he  sells 
it  and  gets  for  it  money,  that  thing  that  his  government 
has  said  to  him  will  pay  any  debt  that  he  may  owe  and 
discharge  any  obligation  that  he  may  incur.  If  he  stores 
his  wheat  each  year  of  the  twenty  in  the  elevator,  the 
elevator  is  the  storeplace  of  his  labor,  and  the  wheat 
the  store  of  his  labor;  and  if  he  stores  in  money,  the 
money-box  is  the  storeplace  of  his  labor,  and  the  money  The  store- 
is  the  store  of  his  labor.  Suppose  after  storing  for  the^tore. 
twenty  years  in  the  elevator,  his  government  should 
say  to  him.  "  Hereafter  neither  you  nor  anyone  else  in 
this  country  shall  use  wheat,"  would  this  not  be  legislat- 
ing him  out  of  his  twenty  years'  labor?  Of  course  it 
would.  Is  there  a  particle  of  difference  between  that  and 
if  he  should  store  in  silver  money,  his  government,  after 
twenty  years  of  such  storing,  should  say  to  him,  "  Here- 
after neither  you  nor  anyone  else  in  this  country  shall  use 
silver  as  money  "?  There  is  not  a  particle  of  difference; 
each  would  simply  rob  him  of  his  twenty  years'  labor,  so 
far  as  the  money  value  of  the  store  was  concerned.  If 
by  any  chance  the  necessities  of  the  government  required 
this  in  any  case,  then  statesmanship,  justice,  ethics  and 
fair  dealing  would  require  that  full  compensation  be 
made  to  him,  just  the  same  as  if  his  horses,  his  cattle,  in 


134  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

short,  any  commodity,  or  his  lands  were  taken  for  gov- 
ernment purposes.  There  is  a  general  constitutional  pro- 
vision in  the  States  of  the  American  Union  that  private 
property  shall  not  he  taken  for  public  use  without  just 
compensation.  Can  it  be  possible  that  under  such  a  pro- 
vision private  property  can  be  taken  for  private  use,  that 
is,  the  use  of  a  few  persons  at  all !  and  much  less  without 
any  compensation  ?  Vet  this  was  precisely  what  was 
done  in  the  United  States  thirty  years  ago  in  the  con- 
gressional enactments  demonetizing  silver,  so  far  as  the 
money  value  of  silver  was  concerned,  and  still  Gold  Sol- 
omons and  Spellbinders  tell  us  "  no  moral  wrong  was 
done"  in  such  congressional  enactments  —  they  cannot 
properly  be  called  laws,  for  they  violate  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  whatever  does  that  cannot  be 
law  in  the  United  States.  Even  the  tortuous  interpreta- 
tion of  courts  cannot  make  such  things  laws,  for  by  and 
by  judges  will  arise  who  will  say,  "  Away  with  such  mon- 
strous follies." 

Lest  misunderstanding  should  arise,  let  it  be  here  said 
that  in  the  cases  above  mentioned  the  commodity  value 
of  the  wheat  money  and  also  the  commodity  value  of  the 
silver  money  would  remain.  For  when  money  is  made  of 
a  thing  that  has  value  attached  to  it  before  being  made 
into  money,  or  declared  money,  then  that  thing  has  two 
kinds  of  value,  to  wit :  ( I )  Its  former  commodity  value, 
which  still  remains  to  it,  though  perhaps  sometimes  in- 
creased by  reason  of  the  addition  of  the  money  value,  as 
gold  is  perhaps  more  used  for  ornaments  by  reason  of 
the  value  added  thereto  from  its  being  used  as  money, 
its  scarcity  making  people  want  it  more,  and  the  wealthy 
and  all  who  can  do  so  get  it  more.  It  is  believed  that  silver 
watches  and  silver  ornaments  are  less,  and  gold  watches 
and  eold  ornaments  are  more  numerous  since  silver  fell 


What  is  Money?  135 

in  value  and  gold  rose  in  value.  However  this  may  be, 
it  is  conceded  that  the  former  commodity  value  of  the 
thing  subsequently  made  into  money  remains  to  it ;  and 
(2)  the  money  value  which  it  has  acquired  by  reason 
of  its  being  made  into  money.  The  ratio  or  proportion  of 
those  two  values  would  be  an  interesting  study,  but  can- 
not be  more  than  barely  mentioned  here,  with  the  remark 
that  the  two  are  perhaps  about  equal,  as  silver,  since  its 
demonetization,  has  fallen  to  about  one-half  of  its  former 
value. 

However  this  may  be,  it  is  conceded  that  in  the  illus- 
trative cases  above  mentioned,  whatever  of  commodity 
value  remains  to  wheat  after  its  supposed  demonetization, 
say,  for  shipment  to  foreign  countries  and  other  purposes, 
if  any,  it  would,  of  course,  still  have ;  it  would  simply 
remain ;  and  also  whatever  of  commodity  value  remained 
to  silver  after  its  usurpative  demonetization  in  1873,  say, 
for  shipment,  ornament  or  use,  it  also  still  had.  it  simply 
remained.  But  its  money  value  is  all  gone,  or  so  nearly  so 
that  what  is  left  to  it  is  unappreciable,  and  its  owner  was 
robbed  of  this  money  value  that  was  by  usurped  power 
legislated  out  of  it. 

When  money  is  by  legislation  made  of  a  valueless  thing, 
then  it  gets  value,  immense  value,  simply  by  being  so 
made  money,  and  when  the  thing  so  made  money  is  again 
by  legislation  demonetized,  unmonetized,  deprived  of  the 
money  quality  or  function,  then  what  came  by  legislation 
goes  by  legislation.  All  of  its  value  came  into  it  by  legis- 
lation, and  all  of  its  value  goes  out  of  it  by  legislation. 
It  was  a  valueless  thing  before  monetization  ;  it  becomes 
again  a  valueless  thing  after  demonetization. 

Can  a  Valueless  Thing  Be  a  Storer  of  Value? — 
Here  also  might,  it  is  supposed,  properly  be  made  a  few 
remarks  on  the  question,  Can  a  valueless  thing  be  a  storer 


136  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

of  value?  The  answer  is,  it  cannot.  And  here  the 
"  economists  "  do  have  one  truth.  If  a  man  puts  his  labor 
in  useless  or  worthless  exertion,  he  wastes  his  labor,  and 
loses  it.  A  man  puts  in  a  day's  work  in  removing  a  pile 
of  stones  from  one  side  of  his  lot  to  the  other,  and  then 
puts  in  the  next  day's  work  in  taking  them  back  to  the 
place  from  which  they  were  removed.  He  thereby  stores 
no  labor,  he  simply  wastes  two  days'  work,  loses  two  clays' 
work.    The  exercise  might  be  beneficial,  but  that  is  all. 

Here  too  would  come  a  dilemma  to  the  accredited 
"economists/'  For  they  contend  that  "fiat"  money  is 
absurd,  that  it  is  no  money  at  all,  that  the  legislature  can- 
not make  money,  that  it  cannot  legislate  silver  or  paper 
into  money,  that  the  "  business  world  "  determines  what 
is  and  shall  be  money. 

If  such  be -the  case  (but  it  is  not  the  case),  how  could 
paper  money,  leaving  out  silver  for  the  time  being,  be  a 
storer  of  value?  It  could  not,  for  it  has  no  value,  and 
their  own  maxim  is  that  a  valueless  thing  cannot  be  a 
storer  of  value. 

Likewise  it  may  be  successfully  argued  that  a  valueless 
thing  cannot  be  a  measure  of  value,  because  only  like  can 
be  the  measure  of  like,  the  unlike  cannot  measure  each 
other.  One  cannot  measure  length  by  weight.  Think  of 
one's  saying  that  a  street  is  a  pound  long,  or  that  a  day 
is  a  ton  in  duration !  No,  as  heretofore  shown,  like  meas- 
ures like;  weight,  weight;  length,  length;  time,  time;  and 
space,  space,  etc. 
Metaphorical  True,  there  is  here,  as  elsewhere,  a  metaphorical  use  of 
the  language,  which  is  sometimes  beautiful  and  effective, 
but  it  is  poetical  and  fanciful,  altogether  unsuited  to 
science,  except  to  illustrate,  beautify  and  render  attractive 
that  which  science  has  already  made  clear,  if  it  is  applied 
to  a  scientific  subject.    For  instance,  we  might,  as  citizens 


What  is  Money?  137 

of  one  of  Europe's  most  renowned  nations  generally  do, 
estimate  distance  in  hours,  and  say  of  a  certain  road  that 
it  is  five  hours  long,  meaning,  of  course,  that  it  would  take 
that  length  of  time  to  pass  over  it.  But  here  the  mode  of 
travel  would  cut  a  very  important  figure.  If  it  were  rail- 
way train,  automohile,  horse  earriage,  or  foot  traveling. 
great  differences  would  be  in  the  length  of  the  road. 

Think  again  of  attempting  to  compare  a  great  general 
to  a  great  orator,  as  Alexander  to  Demosthenes,  Caesar 
to  Cicero  or  Napoleon  to  Patrick  Henry  ! 

No;  the  comparison  must  be  between  like  and  like: 
orator  and  orator,  Demosthenes  and  Cicero;  general  and 
general,  Alexander  and  Caesar,  Napoleon  and  Welling- 
ton;  poet  and  poet.  Homer  and  Virgil;  etc.  A  humorous 
illustration  may  perhaps  be  pardonable :  a  country  lad 
was  asked  if  his  father  could  play  the  fiddle,  and  re- 
sponded, "  I  wish  I  had  as  many  dollars  as  my  father  can 
play  the  fiddle  !  " 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  silver,  paper  and  other 
things  may  be  money,  a  measure  of  value  and  a  storer  of 
value.  For  a  valueless  thing  cannot  indeed,  while  it 
remains  valueless,  be  money,  a  measure  of  value  or  a 
storer  of  value ;  but  when  legislation  legislates  value  into 
anything,  whether  silver  or  paper  or  other  thing,  that 
formerly  valueless  thing  can  without  difficulty  be  money, 
measure  of  value  and  storer  of  value. 

So  when  the  learned  professors,  the  Gold  Solomons 
and  the  Spellbinders  say  that  money,  measure  of 
value,  medium  of  exchange  and  storer  of  value  cannot 
be  made  of  a  valueless  thing  they  furnish  a  beautiful 
instance  of  the  fallacy  called  by  the  logicians  petitio  prin-  Petitio 

.     ...  ,        1       ..  ,  1"  ••      1  principil. 

cipn;  they  completely  beg  the  question;  they  assume 
that  the.  thing  is  and  remains  valueless  even  after  being 
made   into  money,   measure,   medium   and   storer.      They 


■3« 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Ignoratio 
elenchi. 


also  in  this  case  exhibit  another  grave  error,  the  logical 
fallacy  denominated  ignoratio  clench i  [ignorance  or  mis- 
apprehension of  the  question]. 

The  question  was,  Could  the  legislature  legislate  value 
into  a  thing?  and  not.  Could  a  valueless  thing  be  a 
measure  of  value?  or  Could  a  valueless  thing  be  money, 
medium  or  storer  of  value? 


Legislating 
value  into 
thing. 


If  the  legislature  cannot  legislate  value  into  a 


thing. 


War    times 
times    of 
temporary 
prosperity. 


what  is  the  good  of  tariff  laws?  If  such  is  the  case, 
tariff  laws  could  neither  raise  the  price  of  domestic  goods 
nor  keep  foreign  goods  out  of  the  country.  The  effect 
of  tariff  is  to  legislate  more  value  into  domestic  goods 
and  to  legislate  a  corresponding  amount  of  value  out  of 
foreign  goods. 

When  the  Congress  declares  war.  it  thereby  legislates 
value  into  all  war  material  and  supplies.  Hence  war 
times  are  times  of  temporary  prosperity  ;  but  when  the 
time  comes  for  paying  the  debts  made  by  the  war,  then 
"  hard  times,"  trouble  and  distress  appear 

It  would  seem  that  the  assertion  that  value  cannot  be 
legislated  into  or  out  of  a  thing  is  too  absurd  for  even 
the  Gold  Solomons  or  Spellbinders  to  make ;  but  it  is 
not  so,  they  do  make  the  assertions. 

Suppose  the  legislature  this  coming  winter  should  pass 
a  law  —  and  it  could  pass  such  a  law  —  removing  the 
capital  of  Nevada  from  Carson  to  Reno,  would  that  act 
legislate  value  out  of  Carson  and  legislate  value  into 
Reno?  Should  such  an  event  happen,  even  the  Gold 
Solomons  of  Carson  would  say,  "  Xow  is  the  winter  of 
our  discontent ;  "  and  those  of  Reno  exclaim,  "  And  ours 
'  made    glorious    summer '    by    this    noble    legislation    of 

Democracy !  " 

The  Physical  Qualities  of  Money  Material. — 
The  physical  qualities  of  the  material  of  which  money 


What  is  Money?  139 

is,  or  should  be,  made,  occupy  considerable  space  in  many 
treatises  on  money.  Those  are  highly  important  indeed, 
as  questions  of  coinage,  practical  governmental  affairs 
and  in  some  measure  in  statesmanship ;  but  have  no  bear- 
ing whatever  on  the  philosophic  and  scientific  question, 
What  is  money  ?  and  consequently  will  receive  but  brief 
mention  here.  Before  making  even  that,  if  the  author 
may  once  more  be  permitted  to  become  reminiscent,  he 
will  state  his  disappointment,  when  he  once,  while  in  a 
large  citv  of  the  Union,  put  himself  to  considerable  incon- 
venience to  attend  a  lecture  on  money,  advertised  to  be 
given  bv  a  learned  professor  of  economics  in  one  of 
the  great  universities  of  the  land.  He  anticipated  much ; 
but  all  that  was  given  was  some  physical  characteristics 
of  the  material  of  money. 

The  physical  qualities  of  money  that  will  be  mentioned 
here  are  nine  in  number,  as  follows :  — 

1.  Desirability,  that  is,  have  value;  should  have  such  Nine 

-.  qualities. 

qualities  of  utility  as  would  cause  men  to  make  efforts 
to  get  it,  give  something  in  exchange  for  it. 

2.  Portability,  that  is,  smallness  in  bulk,  and  lightness 
in  weight  in  proportion  to  its  value.  Not  indeed,  too 
small  like  diamonds,  for  this  would  largely  curtail  its 
usefulness  as  money. 

3.  Divisibility,  capability  of  being  divided  into  small, 
aliquot  or  equal  parts.  For  if  not,  small  transactions 
could  not  be  carried  on ;  the  retail  trade  would  have  to 
stop.     Silver  is  necessary  for  the  retail  trade. 

4.  Homogeneousness,  that  is,  when  divided  each  part 
would  be  alike  and  equally  valuable ;  not  like  a  beef  when 
butchered  and  prepared  for  the  cuisine,  it  becomes  beef- 
steaks (porterhouse  and  tenderloin),  briskets,  soup  bones, 
etc.,  etc. ;  but  like  gold  or  silver,  that  when  divided  a  part 
thereof  equal  in  weight  is  equal  in  value. 


140  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

5.  Reunition,  that  is,  the  capability  of  being  reunited 
or  put  together  again  after  having  undergone  division, 
as  gold  and  silver  coins  in  the  melting  pot  after  having 
been  before  struck  into  coins ;  not  like  the  bullock  which 
after  he  has  once  undergone  the  process  of  division  pre- 
paratory to  the  skill  of  the  chef,  could  not  certainly  by 
chef,  butcher  or  other  mere  man,  and  perhaps  not  even 
by  Omnipotence  itself,  be  put  together  again  as  he  was 
before  he  has  been  used  in  illustration  of  the  butcher's 
and  the  chef's  skill. 

6.  Durability,  that  is,  the  old  fashioned,  Anglo-Saxon 
quality  of  holding  out  for  a  long  time  and  being  in  good 
condition  at  its  end;  not  like  a  potato  or  a  turnip,  brief 
in  its  duration  and  offensive  in  its  last  days. 

7.  Sameness,  that  is,  does  not  take  on  or  exude  mat- 
ter that  is  unbeautiful,  as  rust  or  corrosion. 

8.  Distinguishability,  that  is,  facility  of  identification 
and  readiness  of  classification,  as  was  profoundly  said 
of  Edmund  Burke,  that  if  a  stranger  stopped  with  him 
but  for  a  few  moments  under  an  arch  as  shelter  from 
a  passing  shower,  the  stranger  would  say  there  was  a 
great  man,  one  of  the  truly  royal  and  sacerdotal  class. 
So  of  the  money  metals,  gold  and  silver,  one  can  readily 
see  that  they  are  indeed  the  "  royal  metals ;  "  not  royal 
because  kings  in  the  olden  times  claimed  the  lands  in 
which  they  were  found,  but  royal  because  of  all  things 
God  has  endowed  them  most  liberally  with  all  of  the 
attributes,  characteristics,  qualities  and  incidents  suitable 
for  money !  These  attributes,  characteristics,  qualities 
and  incidents  were  recognized  by  the  Aryan  race  gen- 
erally, the  Indo-European,  the  Hebrew,  the  Greek,  the 
Roman  and  the  Anglo-Saxon ;  in  short,  wherever  has 
been  found  a  royal  race  there  is  found  also  the  recogni- 
tion and  use  of  the  roval  metals. 


What  is  Money?  141 

9.  Steadiness,  that  is,  not  changing  with  "  every  wind 
of  financial  doctrine;"  but  from  the  days  in  which  the 
Father  of  the  Faithful  bought  from  the  children  of  Heth 
the  cave  of  Machpelah,  that  he  might  have  where  to  bury 
his  dead  Sarah,  on  through  Homeric,  the  later  Greek  and 
the  Roman  times  down  to  the  infamous  Congress  1  >f 
1873,  the  royal  metal,  silver,  has,  with  its  twin  brother, 
gold,  been  the  "  current  money  with  the  merchant  " —  not 
mere  "  currency,"  but  current  money;  not  a  thing  that 
is  "  current  "  until  some  one  says,  "  No,  I  shall  not  take 
it ;  it  shall  not  be  current ;  I  will  check  its  currency,  its 
running,  its  flow  ;  "  but  current  until  the  sovereign,  the 
American  people  —  not  that  unfaithful  servant,  the  usurp- 
ing American  Congress  of  1873  —  says,  "  No ;  silver  shall 
no  longer  be  current  money  in  this  land !  " 

It  is  believed  that  now  has  been  answered  the  ques- 
tion propounded  for  Part  I  of  this  work,  namely.  What 
is  monev  in  sreneral?  what  is  monev  in  anv  land  or  anv 
country  at  any  time?  The  answer  is  simple,  consisting 
of  but  three  words,  but  those  three  are  of  sublime  import. 
To  the  memory  of  the  unknown  man  who  invented  the 
thing,  not  the  words,  there  should,  in  every  mart  of 
commerce  in  every  civilized  land,  be  erected  a  monument  Tin-  monu- 
taller  and  more  imposing  and  durable  than  should  be 
that  to  him  who  invented  the  steam  engine,  the  cotton 
gin,  the  electric  telegraph,  the  telephone,  or  the  moveable 
types ;  and  equal  almost  to  that  which  should  be  erected 
to  the  memory  of  him  who  invented  the  alphabet  or 
brought  it  into  Greece ;  for  is  it  not  said  that  the  Phoene- 
cian  Cadmos  brought  the  alphabet  into  Greece?  On  such 
monument,  wherever  erected,  should  be  placed  the  true 
definition  of  money,  in  any  land  or  country  at  any  time  :  — 

MONEY  IS  TENDER. 


ment. 


PART  II. 

What  is  Money  in  the  United  States 

J 

of  America? 


CHAPTER   IV. 

Nature  of  the   Government. 

SECTION   I. 
The   Three    Fundamental    Forms    of    Government. 

The  Convention  of  1787. —  Properly  to  answer 
the  question  that  constitutes  Part  II  of  this  work, 
namely,  What  is  money  in  the  United  States  of 
America?  it  becomes  imperatively  necessary  to  consider 
briefly  governmental  science,  a  subject  much  considered 
in  the  days  of  the  patriots  and  statesmen  of  1776  and 
those  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  that  sat  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia  from  the  14th  of  April,  1787,  to  the  17th 
of  September  in  the  same  year,  and  there  framed  that  Con- 
stitution of  government  for  the  United  States  of  America, 
that  the  ablest,  wisest  and  best  statesmen  and  students  of 
the  science  of  government  in  all  lands,  among  them  Eng- 
land's great  premier,  William  E.  Gladstone,  have  pro- 
nounced the  best  that  was  ever  evolved  from  the  wisdom 
and  benevolence  of  man. 

The   fundamental   forms  of  government   are   three,   to 
wit :  — 

1.  Monarchy:   the  government  of  the  one;  Monarchy. 

2.  Aristocracy:    the  government  of  the  best;  or  some-  Aristocracy. 
times  called.  Oligarchy :   the  government  of  the  few  :  and 

3.  Democracy:    the  government  of  the  people.  Democracy. 
Monarchy,  Two  Kinds. —  Monarchy  is  of  two  kinds: 

(1)   absolute:  and   (2)  limited. 

10  I45 


146  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Monarchy  Absolute. —  The  monarchy  absolute  was 
well  illustrated  historically  during  the  time  of  the  Bour- 
bons in  France,  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the 
sixteenth  Louis,  and  by  the  Tudors  and  other  "  houses  " 
of  England  up  to  and  later  than  the  time  of  the  first 
Charles.  In  each  of  those  lands  it  took  a  regicide  to  rid 
the  people  of  absolute  monarchy.  In  France,  the  beau- 
tiful and  the  gay,  the  head  of  the  good  man  Louis  was 
cleaved  from  his  body  by  la  guillotine;  and  in  solemn  and 
sober  England,  Charles's  fell  under  the  ax  of  the  com- 
mon executioner.  It  would  seem  unnecessary  to  use 
argument  or  persuasion  that  America  desires  not  the 
monarchy  absolute. 

Monarchy  Limited. —  Monarchy  limited  is  illustrated 
by  the  government  of  England  since  the  times  of  the 
Long  Parliament.  The  immortals  of  the  Revolutionary 
period  of  America  carried  on  a  long,  bloody,  devastating 
war  of  seven  years  to  free  America  from  this  form  of 
government ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  "  spirit  of  '76  "  still 
survives  in  the  bosoms  of  most  of  the  people,  albeit  some 
do  contrast  the  "  uncouthness  and  vulgarity  "  of  Uncle 
Sam  with  the  "  elegance  and  refinement  "  of  John  Bull. 
It  is  not  believed  that  the  monarchy  limited  is  yet  desired 
by  many  in  America,  though  it  is  by  a  few,  however 
much  it  may  be  feared  by  many  of  the  wise  and  good 
that  such  a  monarchy  may  be  stealthily  introduced  while 
the  names  and  forms  of  constitutional  government  may 
still  be  possessed. 

Aristocracy. —  Aristocracy,  the  government  of  the 
"  best,"  soon  degenerates  into  the  government  of  the 
worst.  If  it  were  really  and  truly  the  best,  as  the  Greek 
elements  of  the  word  indicate  (aristos,  meaning  best), 
there  should  be  no  objection;  for  there  is  a  "divine 
right  "  to  rule,  and  that  right  is  in  the  people,  and  the 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    147 

people  have  the  divine  right  to  the  best  that  is  in  him  or 
them  whom  they,  the  people,  call  into  their  service, 
whether  that  service  be  on  the  farm,  in  the  workshop,  in 
the  learned  professions,  in  the  army,  in  the  navy,  in  the 
cabinet,  in  statesmanship  piloting  the  ship  of  state  or 
elsewhere ;  in  each,  those  whom  the  people  call  into  their 
service  should  be  those  who  best  know  how  to  do  the 
work  needing  to  be  done  and  who  most  unselfishly,  most 
benevolently  and  most  lovingly  carry  their  knowledge 
into  effect.  The  people  rule ;  no  one  rules  them ;  all 
serve  them.  When  unskilfulness,  by  trickery  and 
chicanery  or  other  corruption,  works  itself  into  position 
over  skilfulness,  it  is  rank  usurpation ;  and  when  the 
people  call  unskilfulness  into  their  service  over  the  prayer 
of  skilfulness,  it  is  rank  injustice.  Duty  in  the  servant 
bids  him  give  his  best  to  his  master,  the  people ;  and  duty 
in  the  master,  the  people,  bids  them  give  the  position, 
high  or  low,  very  or  only  slightly  responsible,  to  him 
who  can  and  will  best  fill  it.  But  this  knowledge,  this 
capacity  to  serve  the  people  comes  not  by  heredity,  is 
not  transmitted  from  father  to  son  along  with  broad 
acres  and  full  purses ;  it  comes  from  the  "  God  of 
heaven ;  "  and  as  often  attends  upon  the  landless  and  the 
purseless  as  upon  the  acred  and  pelfed.  Aristocracy  trans- 
mits to  its  progeny  its  pride  and  its  arrogance  more  often 
and  more  abundantly  than  it  does  its  virtues  and  its 
excellence ;  and  hence  the  aristocracy  soon  becomes  the  soon  be- 
kakistocracy ;  that  is,  the  government  of  the  best  soon  tstocracy.' 
becomes  the  misgovernment  of  the  worst.  How  many 
of  America's  great  men  have  transmitted  their  greatness 
to  their  offspring?  Surely  not  many.  The  great  names 
of  the  Revolutionary  period  of  American  history  do  not 
reappear  in  the  subsequent  periods.  Washington,  Jeffer- 
son, Madison,  Franklin,  Hamilton,  ct  al.  have  given  no 


148  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


"  Eternal 
vigilance." 


The  great      posterity  to  history  ;  Clay,  Webster  and  Calhoun  have  not 

have  not  his-.   .  .    '  . 

torical  heirs. historical  heirs ;  Jritt,  Burke  and  box  appear  not  in  the 
present  catalogue  of  British  statesmen  ;  and  Bismarck  and 
Moltke  are  not  now  conspicuous  names  in  the  cabinet  or 
army  of  Germany.  Yet  Edward  VII.,  the  descendant  of 
George  III.,  sits  on  the  throne  of  England,  and  William 
III.,  descendant  of  William  II.,  sits  in  the  imperial  seat 
of  Germany  !  If  merit  instead  of  hereditary  right  ruled, 
would  the  two  last  be  first  in  their  respective  countries  ? 

It  will  then  be  taken  for  granted  that  monarchy,  either 
absolute  or  limited,  is  not  a  plant  that  flourishes  on 
American  soil,  at  least  not  yet;  and  it  is  fervently  prayed 
it  may  never  be.  Still  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that 
the  maxim  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  others  of  the  wise 
of  the  earth,  "  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty," 
is  the  first  duty  of  a  free  people. 

Oligarchv.- —  Oligarchy,  or  the  government  of  the 
few,  is  only  another  name  for  Aristocracy ;  for  why  should 
the  few  govern  unless  the  few  have  special  qualifications 
for  the  office  of  government  ?  There  is  nothing  in  simple 
fewness  to  commend  it.  Mere  paucity  has  in  it  nothing 
of  the  divine !  If  the  few  that  have  the  possession  of 
the  government  are  the  best  qualified  therefor,  then 
they  have  the  right  to  govern  ;  but  if  not,  then  another 
few  or  the  many  should  take  their  places.  Merit  or 
capability  for  service  and  not  mere  paucity  should  be  the 
test  of  qualification  for  office. 

The  name  Oligarchy  is  odious,  because  of  what  oli- 
garchs have  done ;  and  the  name  Aristocracy  is  odious 
because  of  what  aristocrats  have  done.  But  the  aristoc- 
racy in  choosing  a  name  for  themselves  acted  with  the 
cunning  so  often  displayed  by  parties  and  factions,  to 
wit,  cover  their  acts  by  a  name  expressive  of  good  quali- 
ties.    This  is  a  very  common  device  even  in  the  forma- 


3Iere 
paucity. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    149 

tion  of  parties.  And  it  often  happens  that  parties  are 
formed  on  wise  and  just  and  good  principles  by  wise 
and  just  and  good  men;  but  afterward  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  foolish,  the  unjust  and  the  bad,  who  substitute 
unwise,  unjust  and  bad  principles  and  measures  for  the 
good  old  ones,  but  still  preserve  the  party  name.  The 
undiscriminating  sustain  the  party  and  vote  its  leaders 
into  office,  thinking  the  old  name  means  the  old  principles, 
when  such  is  not  the  case.  To  do  this  is  a  superstition, 
—  a  political  superstition !  What  is  the  meaning  of  Poiitimi 
this  word  superstition?  Let  the  reader  stop  here  and 
attempt  to  frame  a  definition  of  it,  and  it  is  believed  that 
it  is  not  altogether  certain  that  he  will  succeed  at  the 
first  effort.  The  dictionaries  give  several  definitions,  as 
do  also  most  people  who  speak  or  write  on  the  subject. 
For  instance,  "  belief  or  a  specific  form  of  belief  in  which 
ignorant  or  abnormal  religious  feeling  is  shown."  Then 
ignorance  or  abnormality  is  superstition,  if  shown  in 
religious  matters.  According  to  this  definition  it  would 
probably  be  impossible  for  any  religious  sect  or  division 
of  Christendom  not  to  regard  each  other  sect  or  division 
as  superstitious ;  for  in  some  things  each  would  most 
probably  regard  all  the  others  as  ignorant  or  abnormal, 
that  is,  as  not  knowing  the  truth  or  not  acting  by  the 
norm  or  rule.  But  surely  mere  ignorance  and  abnor- 
mality cannot  be  superstition ;  for,  if  so,  we  all  are  perhaps 
superstitious ;  for  who  can  truly  claim  that  he  is  wholly 
wise  and  knowing,  and  that  he  always  acts  according  to 
the  true  norm  or  rule  ?  Take  a  second  instance,  "  cre- 
dulity regarding  the  supernatural,  or  any  instance  of  it." 
Is  credulity  regarding  the  supernatural  superstition?  If 
so,  if  one  gives  credence  to  the  miracles  of  either  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  or  those  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, is  he  also  superstitious? 


150  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Etymology.  The  word  superstition  comes  from  two  words  of  the 
Latin  language,  super  (over)  and  stare  (to  stand),  and 
it  is  believed  that  most  generally  the  true  meaning  of  a 
word  is  best  discovered  by  following  the  etymological 
path.  Through  this  path  then  we  are  led  to  the  con- 
clusion that  something  stands  over.  What  is  it  in  the 
case  in  hand?  A  symbol  or  a  ceremony  is  used  by  the 
wise  to  illustrate  a  truth  ;  the  wise  pass  away,  and  the 
symbol  or  ceremony  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  ignorant. 
The  ignorant  know  not  the  meaning  to  be  conveyed  by 
the  symbol  or  ceremony,  but  they  see  the  symbol  or  wit- 
ness the  ceremony,  and  forthwith  think  the  efficacy  thereof 
is  the  symbol  or  ceremony  itself !  The  symbol  or  cere- 
mony stands  over,  remains,  when  the  meaning  is  lost. 
It  is  man's  lifeless,  decaying  carcass  when  the  soul  or 
spirit  has  fled  from  it ;  the  sooner  it  also  passes  away 
the  better.  If  it  remains,  it  corrupts  and  poisons  the 
living  who  are  near  it.  So  the  dead  symbol  or  ceremony 
remaining,  or  standing  over,  after  the  meaning  thereof 
has  departed,  corrupts  and  destroys  the  thought  and 
feeling  of  those  who  see  or  witness  the  same.  This  is 
superstition.  The  corrupting  influence  thereof  is  shown 
in  the  fact  that  the  feeling  in  favor  of  the  dead  symbol 
or  lifeless  ceremony  is  often  stronger  than  was  that  in 
favor  of  the  living  thought  symbolized  or  illustrated  in 
ceremony.  Men  quarrel  and  fight  over  their  symbols 
and  ceremonies  more  than  over  their  meanings.  The 
meanings  make  men  loving  and  tolerant ;  the  symbols  and 
ceremonies  make  them  spiteful  and  warlike.  The  old  and 
wise  priest  of  the  Egyptian  religion  did  not  worship  the 

The  bun  a  bull,  the  symbol,  nor  the  ceremonies  performed  in  the 
temple ;  he  only  regarded  them  as  symbols  of  the  vernal 
equinox,   when  the  sun,   the  symbol  of  the   great   God, 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    151 

was  in  the  constellation  Taurus,  the  Bull.  The  common 
and  later  unwise  priest  saw  the  symbol  and  witnessed 
the  ceremony,  and  worshiped  them,  and  still  later  fought 
for  them ! 

So  a  political  party  is  formed  and  organized  by  good 
and  wise  men  on  a  true  principle  or  true  principles,  and 
a  name  accordingly  is  given  to  it.  Soon  the  object  of 
the  formers  and  organizers  is  accomplished,  or  it  is  hope- 
lessly lost,  the  logic  of.  events  rendering  its  accomplish- 
ment impossible.  Still  the  name  remains,  stands  over,  a 
veritable  political  superstition,  corrupting  the  very  air 
of  political  meetings  at  which  Spellbinders  deceive  their 
dupes. 

The  Charge  against  Prometheus. —  Truly  the 
charge  against  Prometheus  for  his  benefits  to  mankind 
and  his  punishment  therefor  give  us  a  valuable  lesson ; 
it  is  thus  related  by  Francis  Bacon,  Lord  Verulam :  — 

'  Tradition  says  that  man  was  made  by  Prometheus, 
and  made  of  clay ;  only  that  Prometheus  took  particles 
from  different  animals  and  mixed  them  in.  He,  desiring 
to  benefit  and  protect  his  own  work,  and  to  be  regarded 
not  as  the  founder  only,  but  also  as  the  amplifier  and 
enlarger  of  the  human  race,  stole  up  to  heaven  with  a 
bundle  of  fennel-stalks  in  his  hand,  kindled  them  at  the 
chariot  of  the  sun,  and  so  brought  fire  to  the  earth  and 
presented  it  to  mankind.  For  this  so  great  benefit  re- 
ceived at  his  hands,  men  (it  is  said)  were  far  from  being 
grateful ;  so  far  indeed,  that  they  conspired  together  and 
impeached  him  and  his  invention  before  Jupiter.  This 
act  of  theirs  was  not  so  taken  as  justice  may  seem  to  have 
required.  For  the  accusation  proved  very  acceptable  both 
to  Jupiter  and  the  rest  of  the  gods  ;  and  so  delighted  were 
they,  that  they  not  only  indulged  mankind  with  the  use 


152  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

of  fire,  but  presented  them  likewise  with  a  new  gift,  of  all 

others   most   agreeable   and   desirable, —  perpetual   youth. 
*  *  *  *  * 

There  follows  a  remarkable  part  of  the  parable.  Men, 
we  are  told,  instead  of  gratulation  and  thanksgiving,  fell 
to  remonstrance  and  indignation,  and  brought  an  accu- 
sation before  Jupiter  both  against  Prometheus  and  against 
Fire;  and  this  act  was  moreover  by  him  so  well  liked, 
that  in  consideration  of  it  he  accumulated  fresh  benefits 
upon  mankind.  For  how  should  the  crime  of  ingratitude 
toward  their  maker,  a  vice  which  includes  in  itself  almost 
all  others,  deserve  approbation  and  reward?  and  what 
could  be  the  drift  of  such  a  fiction  ?  But  this  is  not  what 
is  meant.  The  meaning  of  the  allegory  is,  that  the  accusa- 
tion and  arraignment  by  men  both  of  their  own  nature 
and  of  art,  proceeds  from  an  excellent  condition  of  mind, 
and  issues  in  good  ;  whereas  the  contrary  is  hated  by  the 
gods,  and  is  unlucky.  For  they  who  extravagantly  extol 
human  nature  as  it  is  and  the  arts  as  received,  who  spend 
themselves  in  admiration  of  what  they  already  possess  and 
hold  up  as  perfect  the  sciences  which  are  professed  and 
cultivated,  are  wanting,  first,  in  reverence  to  the  divine 
nature,  with  the  perfection  of  which  they  almost  presume 
to  compare,  and  next  in  usefulness  toward  man,  as 
thinking  that  they  have  already  reached  the  summit  of 
things  and  finished  their  work,  and  therefore  need  seek 
no  further.  The}'  on  the  other  hand  who  arraign  and 
accuse  nature  and  the  arts,  and  abound  with  complain- 
ings, are  not  only  more  modest  (if  it  be  truly  considered) 
in  their  sentiment,  but  are  also  stimulated  perpetually  to 
fresh  industry  and  new  discoveries." 

Hacc  fabitla  docet  [this  fable  teaches]  that  modesty  is 
meritorious,  and  that  vainglory  is  reprehensible  and 
hated  by  both  gods  and  men.     When  a  man  boasts  and 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    153 

boasts  and  boasts  of  his  ancestors,  it  is  a  pretty  sure  sign  Anoestmi 
that  that  is  about  all  that  he  has  of  which  he  can  boast ;  he 
has  ample  leisure  and  opportunity  for  such  boasting-.  So 
when  a  Spellbinder  boasts  and  boasts  and  boasts  and 
keeps  on  boasting  of  the  achievements  of  his  party,  it 
is  a  pretty  sure  sign  that  the  said  party  is  now  in  a  situa- 
tion similar  to  that  of  the  man  boasting  of  his  ancestors 
—  the  party  has  no  present  principles  worthy  of  boasting : 
it  is  a  dead  carcass  from  which  the  soul  or  spirit  has  fled, 
and  it  is  corrupting  the  body  politic,  and  it  is  only 
political  superstition  that  yields  it  reverence.  The  name 
stands  over,  and  political  superstition  holds,  that  in  honor  ; 
while  thought  condemns  the  present  attitude  of  the  party 
and  marches  on  to  new  deeds  blessing  humanity.  Super- 
stition stops  and  wastes  its  time  in  self-worship ;  truth 
leaves  its  past  record  to  the  care  of  the  gods  and  proceeds 
on  its  way  in  doing  good  to  man.  A  party  that  has  no 
present  principles  to  commend  it,  but  appeals  to  its  past, 
is  dead,  and  has  no  right  to  live.  Jupiter  condemned 
Prometheus,  and  the  people  will  condemn  such  a  party. 
Man  will  and  should  disregard  it.  The  party  whose  merit 
is  entirely  in  the  past  should  appeal  to  the  past  for  its 
approbation  and  support,  and  not  to  the  present.  The 
present  has  its  own  burden,  and  the  past  cannot  lift  that 
burden ;  only  the  present  can  serve  the  present. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  past  merits  or  achievements 
of  an  individual  man  are  not  to  be  considered ;  on  the  con- 
trary, those  are  the  surest  guaranty  of  his  future  useful- 
ness. But  with  party  and  a  man  claiming  under  the  merit 
of  his  ancestors,  it  is  different.  For  in  those  cases  new 
and  different  men  rule  and  lead  the  party,  and  the  descend- 
ant is  not  always,  and  rarely  is,  of  the  same  temper  as  his 
ancestor.  Each  individual  person  on  his  own  merit  should 
be  the  rule,  and  the  exception  to  it  should  be  rare. 


154  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Impossible. 


Nevada. 

Original 
thirteen 
States. 

Eighty 
millions. 


From  the  foregoing  it  is  confidently  concluded  that 
neither  monarchy  nor  aristocracy,  alias  oligarchy,  is  de- 
sired by  the  American  people,  although  some  have  stated 
in  the  author's  hearing  that  they  thought  the  English 
government  better  than  that  of  the  United  States; 
but  it  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  that  as  yet  the  num- 
ber so  thinking  is  not  large.  See  to  it,  you,  the  people, 
the  sovereigns  of  America,  that  it  does  not  increase! 
Again,  "  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty."  It 
is  certain  that  the  forefathers  rejected  the  monarchy  and 
the  aristocracy,  including  its  alias,  and,  after  wise  and 
mature  deliberation,  adopted  the  third  form,  democracy. 

Democracy,  Two  Kinds. —  Democracy  also  is  of  two 
kinds:  (i)  democracy  direct,  sometimes  called  pure 
democracy,  and  (2)  democracy  indirect,  or  representative. 

Democracy  Direct. — The  first,  democracy  direct, 
though  given  as  a  class  by  all  the  renowned  writers  on 
the  science  of  government,  is  impossible,  and  never  ex- 
isted. Ancient  Athens  is  given  as  an  example  of  it ;  and 
although  perhaps  coming  nearer  to  it  than  any  other  state, 
it  lacked  much  of  being  such.  Direct  or  pure  democracy 
means  that  all  of  the  people  meet,  make,  interpret  and 
execute  the  laws.  And  this  never  happened  in  Athens. 
Perhaps  one-fourth  or  even  one-half  of  the  people  never 
participated  in  the  making,  interpreting  or  executing  of 
the  laws  of  Athens.  Indeed,  such  a  thing  is  impossible 
except  in  a  state  too  small  for  any  practical  purpose  of 
government  in  this  bold,  stirring,  aggressive,  grasping 
world  of  ours.  The  people  of  even  the  small  State  of 
Nevada  could  not  meet  at  one  time  and  in  one  place  for 
any  one  or  all  of  these  purposes.  Those  of  the  original 
thirteen  States  on  the  Atlantic  slope  would  have  still 
greater  difficulties  to  overcome  ;  and  to  think  of  it  with  the 
eighty  millions  of  Americans  now  would  be  absurd. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    155 

The  New  England  town  meeting  is  often  cited  as 
pure  democracy ;  but  it  was  not  so.  It  was  local  and  lim- 
ited;  had  jurisdiction  over  only  a  small  part  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  State  and  a  small  part  of  the  subjects  apper- 
taining to  government  —  a  mere  arc  of  the  circle  of  the 
attributes  of  sovereignty ;  purely  democratic,  as  far  as 
it  went ;  but  its  extent  over  both  the  territory  of  the  sov- 
ereignty and  the  attributes  of  the  sovereignty  was  small, 
too  small  to  be  cited  as  a  pure  democracy  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  word. 

Again,  the  people,  the  sovereigns,  should  ever  be  on 
their  guard  against  granting  away  to  any  tribunal  too 
many  of  these  sovereign  attributes.  Keep  power  in  their 
own  hands  and  let  their  servants  apply  for  it  in  individual 
cases  when  it  is  needed.  This  is  not  only  safer,  but  the 
only  course  of  safety.  The  history  of  the  world  proves  it. 
When  the  people  grant  away  their  power,  they  have  legally 
provided  themselves  with  a  master,  or  masters  as  the  case 
may  be ;  and  that  master  or  those  masters  will  master 
them,  rule  them  with  a  strong  hand.  Tyranny  armed 
with  the  State's  powers  is  awful  and  cruel.  Revolution 
is  then  the  only  cure ;  and  even  successful  revolution  is 
dreadful,  and  unsuccessful  is  appalling;  and  hence  men 
often  remain  slaves  rather  than  risk  the  perils  of  attempt- 
ing to  gain  relief  by  revolution.  No ;  the  people,  if  wise, 
will  not  surrender  their  sovereign  powers.  The  people 
should  delegate  enough  power,  but  not  too  much ;  and 
when  the  danger  line  is  doubtful,  it  is  best  to  halt.  It  is 
safer  afterward  to  grant  more  power  than  to  attempt  to 
recall  power  unwisely  granted.  When  the  tiger  has  tasted 
blood,  he  wants  more.  When  tyranny  has  tasted  power, 
it  thinks  it  is  its  right  to  hold  on  to  it,  and  deems  itself 
injured  when  deprived  of  it. 


156  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


SECTION    II. 

The  Form  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

Democracy  Indirect  or  Representative. —  Conse- 
quently democracy  indirect  or  representative  was  the  form 
of  government  wisely  chosen  by  the  convention  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1787,  and  subsequently  adopted  by  the  sover- 
eign people  of  the  United  States  in  1789. 
The    charac-     The  men  composing  that  convention  had  carefullv  and 

ter  of  the        .    . 

men  of  1787.  laboriously  studied  the  science  of  human  government  and 
were  deeply  versed  in  the  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
They  knew  the  weakness  and  corruption  of  men,  and  also 
the  weakness  as  well  as  the  strength  of  each  kind  of  gov- 
ernment ;  and  they,  to  preserve  liberty,  formed  a  govern- 
ment of  checks  and  balances  of  power.  No  one  kind  of 
government  and  no  one  department  of  any  kind  was  given 
all  power. 
The  four  The  government  under  the  Constitution  there  framed, 

ions    of    the  and  subsequently  adopted  bv  the  whole  people  of  the  thir- 

crovoriimcot 

teen  States,  has  four  grand  divisions,  although  but  two 
are  generally  noticed  or  mentioned.  They  are  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

1.  The  general  government ; 

2.  The  state  governments ; 

3.  The  powers  reserved  to  the  people  of  a  state ;  and 

4.  The  powers    reserved   to   the    whole   people   of   the 
United  States. 

The  Theory. —  The  theory  on  which  the  members  of 
the  convention  proceeded  was  that  matters  appertaining 
Things  to  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States,  the  people  at 

large,  should  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  general 
government  to  the  extent  of  the  powers  granted  to  it  by 
the    Constitution,    but   no    further ;    and    the   control   and 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    157 

direction  and  management  of  such  matters  were  ceded, 
given,  granted,  by  the  Constitution  to  the  said  general 
government ;  hut  the  jurisdiction,  management,  direction 
and  control  of  all  matters  and  things  that  were  not  by  the  Things 

0  J  local. 

Constitution  ceded,  given,  granted,  to  the  said  general 
government  were  retained  by  States  or  by  the  people 
either  of  a  State  or  of  the  whole  United  States.  This 
great  doctrine  was  not  even  left  to  the  natural  and  proper 
interpretation  of  the  instrument  itself,  though  that  would 
have  been  sufficient.  The  wisdom  of  that  day,  well  know- 
ing the  aggressive  and  usurping  nature  of  legislatures 
and  of  men  in  power,  chose  to  hedge  this  doctrine  about  Doctrine 

r  &  hedged 

with  a  special  inhibition.     The  tenth  amendment  to  the  about. 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  contains  this  inhibition. 
It  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Tenth 

...  amendment. 

Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  re- 
served to  the  States  respectively  or  to  the  people." 

Mark  the  language,  "  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution."  The  powers  are  "  dele- 
gated ;  "  not  before  possessed,  or  otherwise  obtained,  but 
delegated,  and  delegated  in  one  manner  alone,  that  is,  by  only  one 

~  .         .  .  .  "      source    of 

the   Constitution ;   there   is   no   other   possible    source   of  power. 
powers  in  the  general  government  except  the  Constitu- 
tion.     If    the    Constitution    gives    not    a    certain    power 
claimed,  then,  however  much  such  power  may  be  needed 
or  desired,  the  general  government  has  it  not ;  and  woe 
to  the  man  whose  conscience  will  permit  him  in  his  seat  interpreta- 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  or  in  the  House  of  science. 
Representatives,  or  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  to  read  into  that  instrument,  or  inter- 
pret into  it,  what  he  believes  in  his  heart  the  framers  of 
it  did  not  put  there !    To  such  a  man,  be  it  said,  "  Let  the 
unjust  and  perjured  judge  or  legislator  tremble;  for  God 
will  smite  him  with  the  sword  of  his  wrath  !  " 


158  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

"  Reserved." —  Mark  the  language  further :  Powers 
"  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people ;  " 
not  ceded,  given  or  granted  to  the  States  or  to  the  people, 
as  was  the  language  in  reference  to  the  powers  granted 
to  the  general  government,  but  reserved  to  the  States  or  to 
the  people.  The  States  and  the  people  did  not  receive, 
had  nothing  given  or  granted  to  them ;  they  simply  re- 
tained all  that  was  not  by  the  Constitution  granted  to  the 
general  government,  they  quoad  [as  to]  the  reserved 
powers  remaining  sovereign.  The  general  government 
has  no  power  over  the  reserved  powers. 

The  First  Grand  Division  of  the  Attributes  of 
Sovereignty. —  Mark  the  caution  and  care  of  the  wise 
framers ;  they  would  not  consent  to  intrust  all  the  powers, 
all  the  attributes  of  sovereignty,  to  one  government  even, 
but  provided  for  two,  the  general  government  and  the 
state  governments ;  and  some,  and  those  of  vast  impor- 
tance, they  declined  to  give  to  either. 

Instances  of  Powers  Not  Granted. —  Instances  of 
powers  granted  to  the  general  government  need  not  be 
mentioned ;  the  face  of  the  Constitution  shows  them  in 
abundance.  Instances  of  powers  reserved  or  powers 
remaining  in  the  State  governments  sufficiently  appear  in 
their  respective  constitutions,  but  a  few  instances  of 
powers  not  delegated  to  the  general  government,  but  re- 
served or  remaining  to  the  whole  people  of  all  or  a  spe- 
cified majority  of  the  United  States,  will  be  given,  and 
also  a  few  of  those  reserved  or  remaining  to  the  people 
of  a  single  State  in  contradistinction  to  the  government 
of  said  State.    As  to  the  first :  — 

The  Power  to  Make  Amendments. — The  power  to 

make  amendments  to  the  Constitution  is  a  power  reserved 

to  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States  or  a  specified 

Force  law.      majority  thereof.     The  power  to  make  a  national  divorce 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    159 

law  is  a  power  so  reserved,  for  no  one  snrely  would  claim 
that  one  State  had  the  power  to  make  a  divorce  law  that 
could  be  operative  in  another  State.  Indeed,  numerous 
are  the  instances  of  such  reserved  powers  that  could  be 
cited,  and  among  them,  the  power  to  determine  what  thing 
or  things  should  be  money  or  tender,  provided  it  were  Declare 
ever  deemed  desirable  to  change  from  the  two  metals, 
gold  and  silver,  that  are  now  the  money  metals  fixed  and 
settled  by  the  Constitution. 

Instances  of  Powers  Reserved  to  the  States  or 
to  the  People  of  the  States. —  Instances  of  powers  re- 
served to  the  State  or  to  the  people  of  a  State  may  be 
given  as  follows :  ( 1 )  To  make  amendments  to  a  State 
constitution;  (2)  to  punish  crimes,  say,  murder,  burglary, 
larceny,  etc. ;  in  short,  to  attempt  to  enumerate  the  powers 
reserved  to  the  State  or  to  the  people  of  a  State  would  be 
like  attempting  to  enumerate  the  trees  of  the  forest  or 
the  flowers  of  the  field !  All  of  those  powers  are  attributes 
of  sovereignty,  and  yet  men  high,  indeed,  very  high,  in 
national  councils,  influence  and  authority,  say  that  because 
the  power  to  say  what  thing  or  things  shall  be  money  is  Lame  and 
an  attribute  of  sovereignty,  ergo,  it  belongs  exclusively  conclusion, 
to  the  Congress ! 

This  is  the  first  grand  division  of  the  attributes  of  sov- 
ereignty under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  Second  Grand  Division  of  the  Attributes  of 
Sovereignty. — The  next  grand  division  of  those  attri- 
butes is  the  threefold  division  of  the  powers  of  the  general 
government ;  for  the  powers  of  the  state  governments 
need  not  be  mentioned  here,  except  in  one  instance,  and 
that  will  more  properly  come  further  on.  The  threefold 
division  of  the  powers  of  the  general  government  are  as 
follows :  — 

1.  The  legislative ; 


160  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

2.  The  executive ;  and 

3.  The  judicial. 

The  Threefold  Division  of  the  Legislative  De- 
partment.—  So  careful  were  the  framers  to  guard  and 
protect  liberty  and  hedge  it  about  that  they  even  divided 
the  legislative  department  into  two  branches ;  yea,  when 
fully  understood,  into  three  branches.  They  are  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

1.  The  Senate; 

2.  The  House  of  Representatives ;   and 

3.  The  revisory  power  of  the  executive  branch,  usually 
called  the  "  veto  "  power  of  the  president. 

The  House  of  Representatives. —  (1)  May  indul- 
gence be  granted  for  a  few  words  of  comment  on  these. 
For  convenience,  the  second  branch  will  be  treated  first. 
The  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  are  elected 
for  a  short  period  of  time,  every  two  years,  and  by  the 
people  of  the  several  States,  in  what  is  denominated  con- 
gressional districts.  These  members,  coming  directly  and 
recently  from  the  people  by  their  free  suffrages,  are  sup- 
The  present,  posed  to  represent  the  present, —  the  present  in  its  wisdom, 
its  interests,  its  thought,  its  wishes  and  its  needs,  not  for- 
getting its  wrath  and  its  injustice. 

The  Senate. —  (2)  The  members  of  the  Senate  are 
elected  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  for  a  long 
period  of  time,  six  years ;  and  these  are  supposed  to 
The  past.  represent  the  past. —  the  past  in  its  wisdom,  its  experience, 
wisdom—  its  care  and  foresight  for  even  the  welfare  of  the  present. 
By  these  means  it  was  hoped  that  the  rashness  and  pre- 
cipitation, and  sometimes  even  the  folly,  revenge,  greed 
and  avarice  of  the  present  might  be  checked  by  the  calm- 
ness, deliberation,  wisdom  and  steadiness  of  the  past. 
Surelv  it  is  a  bad  and  sad  day  for  any  man  or  nation  when 
he  or  it  lightly  casts  aside  the  wisdom  of  the  past.    Let  it 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    161 

not  be  supposed  that  the  preservation  of  the  folly  or 
unwisdom  of  the  past  is  here  advocated.  The  folly  and 
unwisdom  of  both  past  and  present  should  be  discarded  ; 
but  in  the  hasty  judgment,  the  profoundest  wisdom  and 
deepest  truth  are  often  branded  with  the  brand  of  folly 
and  falsehood. 

The  Revisory  Power  of  the  President. —  (3)  The 
revisory  power  of  the  president  is  really  and  very  truly  a 
third  branch  of  the  law-making  department  of  the  gen- 
eral government.  This  power  is  usually  called  the  "  veto  " 
power  of  the  president ;  and  by  that  power  the  president  The  power 
has  more  power  over  any  bill  before  the  Senate  or  House  "  veto  » 
of  Representatives  than  any  single  member  of  either  of 
those  branches,  and  also  more  than  a  majority  of  the 
members  of  either  the  Senate  or  the  House.  For  a  bare 
majority  of  one  can  pass  any  bill  over  the  objections  of 
any  minority,  large  or  small ;  but  over  the  objections  of 
the  president,  usually  called  his  "  veto,"  it  requires  two- 
thirds  of  the  members  of  each  House  to  pass  any  bill. 
Surely  such  a  power  is  worthy  of  being  called  a  third  and 
distinct  department  of  the  law-making  power. 

The  Title,  Governor. —  For  the  purpose  here  intended 
it  is  not  necessary  to  speak  further  of  either  the  state  gov- 
ernments or  of  the  other  two  divisions  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment, to  wit,  the  executive  and  judicial.  But  one  re- 
mark may  perhaps  be  pardonable,  as  to  the  misnomer  in  Misnomer. 
the  word  governor  as  the  designation  of  the  chief  execu- 
tive officer  of  the  various  state  governments.  Executive  Executive. 
is  certainly  the  correct  and  more  appropriate  word,  for 
he  is  simply  the  minister,  or  servant,  of  the  people,  who  is 
chiefly  charged  with  the  execution  of  their  laws,  that  is, 
the  laws  that  they  have  made  through  their  agents  or 
representatives.  He  does  not  govern  the  people,  he  simply 
serves  them ;  he  is  their  servant  or  minister.  He  is  not  a 
ii 


162  Thirty  Years1  War  on  Silver 


"  Royal 
governor.' 


Reverse 
superstition. 


"  royal  governor  "  sent  out  by  a  monarch  on  the  other  side 
of  the  water  to  govern  his  majesty's  loyal  subjects  in 
his  majesty's  name;  but  he  is  the  servant  of  the  sov- 
ereign people  of  the  State.  The  name  "  governor  "  is  a 
survival  of  the  times  of  monarchy,  and  should  be  replaced 
by  a  name  more  descriptive  of  the  office  as  that  office  now 
is.  "  Executive  "  is  the  proper  word.  In  the  word  "  gov- 
ernor "  there  is  a  kind  of  reverse  superstition ;  superstition, 
because  the  name  stands  over  after  the  functions  are 
changed ;  reverse,  because  in  this  case  a  more  odious  title 
remains  to  stand  for  very  well  liked  functions  of  office, 
whereas  in  most  superstitions  a  pleasing  name  is  retained 
to  cover  a  change  to  odious  functions. 

Titles  of  Federal  Offices. — The  same  things  may 
be  said  of  the  officeholders  of  the  general  government,  ex- 
cept that  there  is  no  superstition  in  their  names ;  the 
names  of  these  were  chosen  at  the  times  the  offices  were 
created  and  the  functions  of  them  designated,  and  hence 
appropriate  names  or  designations  were  given  to  them. 
But  all  of  the  officers  of  the  general  government  are  simply 
servants  or  ministers  of  the  sovereign  people,  a  fact  that 
neither  the  officers  nor  the  people  should  ever  lose  sight 
of ;  and  the  man,  whether  in  or  out  of  office,  who  is  not 
content  with  such  titles  of  office  and  such  functions  of 
office  may  be  well  fitted  to  be  a  "  royal  governor  "  of  a 
province,  but  not  to  be  the  servant  or  minister  of  a  sov- 
ereign people. 

Division  and  Subdivision  of  Attributes. —  Thus 
carefully,  cautiously  and  wisely  did  the  immortal  framers 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  divide  and  sub- 
divide the  powers  of  the  governments  that  were  therein 
recognized  and  erected,  "  in  order  to  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  themselves  and  their  posterity ;  "  and  shame, 
shame  on  him,   whether  in  the  legislative,  executive  or 


"  Haul    down 
the    flag." 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    163 

judicial   departments   thereof,  who  would   dare  to  strike 

down  the  Constitution!     If  to  "haul   down  the  flag  be 

treason,   deserving  of  death   on   the   spot,"   what   in   the 

name  of  all  the  milder  and  more  heroic  virtues  should  be 

the  designation  of  him  who  would  dare  to  strike  down  the  strike 

Constitution  of  his  country !  'constitution. 

Cui  Bono  [To  idiom  for  good;  or  to  what  purpose]  ? 
—  Doubtless  the  query  has  arisen  in  the  reader's  mind, 
Why  this  brief  sketch  or  outline  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States?  Astounding  as  it  may  be  to  state  it,  the 
reason  is  this  :  — 

Again  and  again  has  the  author  in  conversation  on  the 
subject  of  money  met  the  following  argument  from  Gold 
Solomons,  Spellbinders,  lawyers,  intelligent  laymen,  and 
even  from  so  high  an  official  elevation  as  senator  of  the 
United  States  has  come  the  argument  that  is  now  stated. 
High  Official  will  represent  all  of  them  :  — 

High  Official :  "  Why,  do  you  say  that  the  Congress  has 
not  the  power  to  say  what  shall  be  the  money  of  this 
country  ?  " 

Author :  "  Yes,  that  is  what  I  say." 

H.  O. :  "  Do  you  not  know  that  the  power  to  determine 
what  thing  or  things  shall  be  money  is  an  attribute  of 
sovereignty  ?  " 

A. :  "  Yes,  that  is  known  to  me." 

H.  O. :  "Then  (with  a  crushing  look  and  air  of 
triumph)  how  can  you  dare  to  say  that  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  has  not  the  power  to  say  what  thing  or 
things  shall  be  the  money  of  this  country  ?  " 

Usually  here  the  "  incident-is-closed  "  attitude  would 
be  struck  by  H.  O.,  and  the  conversation  would  cease. 
This  argument  "  proves  too  much,  and  therefore  proves  « proves  too 
nothing."  If  because  a  power  is  an  attribute  of  sov- 
ereignty, it  necessarily  goes  to  the  general  government, 


much." 


164  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

then  a  State  could  not  punish  for  the  crime  of  murder, 
for  surely  to  punish  for  murder  is  an  attribute  of  sov- 
ereignty ;  nor  for  treason  against  itself,  that  is,  the  State, 
in  contradistinction  to  the  treason  against  the  general  gov- 
ernment ;  nor  even  for  larceny.  In  short,  if  this  argument 
is  valid,  it  instantly,  and  in  three  words  —  attribute  of 
sovereignty  —  wipes  out  and  destroys  every  vestige  of 
State  government  in  the  United  States !  For  any  power 
exercised  under  the  constitution  of  any  State  in  the  Union 
is  an  exercise  of  an  attribute  01  sovereignty,  to  wit,  tax 
Abolishes  laws,  divorce  laws,  and  so  forth.  So  under  it  State  con- 
ernment.  stitutions,  State  legislatures,  State  courts,  State  executives 
are  each  and  all  abolished ! 

It  is  believed  that  further  comment  is  unnecessary ;  for 
he  who  makes  such  an  alleged  argument  proclaims  his 
own  ignorance  of  the  Constitution  and  government  of  his 
country. 

Gold  Solomon  and  Spellbinder  Logic. —  It  is 
certainly  Gold  Solomon  and  Spellbinder  logic  to  say 
that  under  the  government  instituted  under  and  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  because  the  power  to 
say  what  thing  or  things  shall  be  the  money  of  a  country 
is  an  attribute  of  sovereignty,  therefore  that  power,  the 
power  to  say  what  thing  or  things  shall  be  the  money  of 
the  United  States,  is  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ! 
In  truth,  the  famous  logical  "  clincher "  of  the  noted 
humorist,  Artemus  Ward,  has  now  passed  into  total 
eclipse ;  in  comparison  to  this  new  mode  of  ratiocination 
of  the  Gold  Solomon  and  the  Spellbinder,  the  formula 
of  poor  Artemus  is  as  nothing.  That  formula  was, 
Artemus  "  My  wife  is  a  Presbyterian,  but  I  keep  a  cow."  Poor 
°S1C"  Artemus,  thy  glory  has  departed,  and  the  Gold  Solomon 
and  the  Spellbinder  reign  in  thy  stead  Sic  transit 
gloria — Artemus  [thus  passes  the  glory  of  —  Artemus]  ! 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    165 

Remarkable  Logical  Assumption. —  Seriously  to 
consider  the  matter,  the  fallacy  of  the  contention  of  the 
Gold  Solomon,  the  Spellbinder,  the  senator  and  all  that 
class  is  that  it  assumes  and  implies  that  all  of  the  attributes 
of  sovereignty  are  lodged  in  the  Congress !  an  assump- 
tion so  utterly  false  and  repugnant  to  the  truth  that  it 
would  seem  that  a  ten-year-old  boy  in  school  should  be  re- 
buked for  such  an  assertion  or  assumption,  and  yet  grave 
senators  and  men  presuming  to  put  themselves  forward 
as  leaders  of  the  people  make  it,  urge  it  and  fight  for  it. 

If  being  an  attribute  of  sovereignty  takes  a  power  to 
the  Congress,  then  all  the  powers  are  taken  from  the 
executive  department,  and  also  from  the  judicial  depart- 
ment, and  carried  by  the  three  magical  words,  "  attribute 
of  sovereignty,"  to  the  Congress.  The  president  and  the 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  are  stripped  of  all  power, 
except  the  president's  "  veto  "  power.  In  short,  the  Con- 
gress has  all  the  attributes  of  sovereignty.  Has  it  come 
to  this  ? 

The  Truth. —  No ;  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  the  Congress  has  certain  powers  expressly 
granted  to  it,  and  whenever  it  exercises  more  than  those 
and  those  that  are  "  necessary  and  proper  "  to  carry  those 
into  effect,  it  is  a  plain,  palpable  usurpation  of  power  on 
the  part  of  the  Congress  ;  and  when  it  is  consciously  done, 
the  men  doing  it  violate  their  oath  of  office,  and  that  is 
usually  and  rightly  called  perjury.  Perjury. 

The  Anarchist. — The  anarchist  is  one  who  destroys 
law,  or  one  who  advocates  the  destroying  of  law  :  and 
what  is  he  then  who  thus  destroys  or  thus  advocates  the 
destroying  of  the  Constitution  of  his  country  but  an  an- 
archist? And  when  a  great  officer  of  the  government  of 
the  United  States  says  the  Constitution  is  antiquated.  Constitution 
"  plaved  out,"  and  cannot  and  should  not  be  observed,  he  ont." 


1 66  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

is  a  traitor  to  his  country,  and  should  be  dismissed  from 
its  service ;  and  those  out  of  office,  whether  Gold  Sol- 
omons, Spellbinders,  lawyers  or  intelligent  laymen,  who 
say  the  same  thing,  are  likewise  traitors  and  unworthy  to 
enter  the  service  of  their  country  that  they  would  thus 
destroy. 

Contrast  such  conduct  and  such  speeches  with  the  sub- 
Abraham       lime  utterance  of  Abraham  Lincoln  when  delegations  went 
to  see  him  after  his  election  to  the  presidency  the  first 
time,  but  before  he  took  the  oath  of  office  and  entered  upon 
the  duties  thereof. 

'  It  was  reserved  for  the  delegation  from  New  York  to' 
call  out  from  Mr.  Lincoln  his  first  expression  touching 
the  great  controversy  of  the  hour.  He  exchanged  re- 
marks with  ex-Governor  King.  Judge  James,  William 
Curtis  Noyes  and  Francis  Granger.  William  E.  Dodge 
had  stood,  awaiting  his  turn.  As  soon  as  his  opportunity 
came,  he  raised  his  voice  enough  to  be  heard  by  all  pres- 
ent, and,  addressing  Mr.  Lincoln,  declared  that  the  whole 
country  in  great  anxiety  was  awaiting  his  inaugural 
address,  and  then  added :  '  It  is  for  you,  sir,  to  say  whether 
the  whole  nation  shall  be  plunged  into  bankruptcy. 
"Shaii  grass  whether  the  grass  shall  grow  in  the  streets  of  our  com- 

grow     in    the  .    ,      ., .        , 

streets?  ••       mercial  cities. 

"  '  Then  I  say  it  shall  not."  he  answered,  with  a  merry 
twinkle  of  his  eye.  '  If  it  depends  upon  me,  the  grass  will 
not  grow  anywhere  except  in  the  fields  and  meadows.' 

"  '  Then  you  will  yield  to  the  just  demands  of  the  South. 
You  will  leave  her  to  control  her  own  institutions.  You 
will  admit  slave  States  into  the  Union  on  the  same  con- 
dition as  free  States.  You  will  not  go  to  war  on  account 
of  slavery.' 

"A  sad  but  stern  expression  swept  over  Mr.  Lincoln's 
face.     '  I  do  not  know  that  I  understand  your  meaning, 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    167 

Mr.  Dodge,'  he  said,'  without  raising  his  voice,  '  nor  do  I 
know  what  my  acts  or  opinions  may  he  in  the  future, 
beyond  this :  if  I  shall  ever  come  to  the  great  office  of 
president  of  the  United  States,  I  shall  take  an  oath.  I 
shall  swear  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  office  of 
president  of  the  United  States,  of  all  the  United  States, 
and  that  I  will,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  pro- 
tect, and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
This  is  a  great  and  solemn  duty.    With  the  support  of  the  "  Great  and 

"  t      1      11  J  solemn 

people  and  the  assistance  of  the  Almighty  I  shall  under-  duty." 
take  to  perform  it.  I  have  full  faith  that  I  shall  perform 
it.  It  is  not  the  Constitution  as  I  would  like  to  have  it, 
but  as  it  is,  that  is  to  be  defended.  The  Constitution  will 
not  be  preserved  and  defended  until  it  is  enforced  and 
obeyed  in  every  part  of  every  one  of  the  United  States.  It 
must  be  so  respected,  obeyed,  enforced  and  defended,  let 
the  grass  grow  where  it  may.'  " —  Taken  from  pages  7  / 
and  75  of  L.  E.  Chittenden's  "Recollections  of  President 
Lincoln  and  His  Administration." 

In  preparing  this  work  it  has  been  the  earnest  desire 
of  the  author  that  no  "  untempered  mortar  "  should  be 
"  daubed  thereon,"  that  nothing  even  seemingly  partisan 
should  have  place  therein. 

"  Because,  even  because  they  have  seduced  my  people, 
saying,  Peace,  and  there  was  no  peace ;  and  one  built  up  a 
wall,  and,  lo,  others  daubed  it  with  untempered  mortar : 
Say  unto  them  which  daub  it  with  untempered  mortar, 
that  it  shall  fall :  there  shall  be  an  overflowing  shower ; 
and  ye,  O  great  hailstones,  shall  fall ;  and  a  stormy  wind 
shall  rend  it.  Lo,  when  the  wall  is  fallen,  shall  it  not  be 
said  unto  you,  Where  is  the  daubing  wherewith  you  have 
daubed  it?  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  God;  I  will 
even  rend  it  with  a  stormy  wind  in  my  fury  ;  and  there 
shall  be  an  overflowing  shower  in  mine  anger,  and  great 


i68  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

hailstones  in  my  fury  to  consume  it.  So  will  I  break  down 
the  wall  that  ye  have  daubed  with  untempered  mortar,  and 
bring  it  down  to  the  rround,  so  that  the  foundation 
thereof  shall  be  discovered,  and  it  shall  fall,  and  ye  shall 
be  consumed  in  the  midst  thereof :  and  ye  shall  know  that 
I  am  the  Lord.  Thus  will  I  accomplish  my  wrath  upon 
the  wall,  and  upon  them  that  have  daubed  it  with  untem- 
pered mortar,  and  will  say  unto  you,  The  wall  is  no  more, 
neither  they  that  daubed  it ;  to  wit,  the  prophets  of  Israel 
which  prophesy  concerning  Jerusalem,  and  which  see  vis- 
ions of  peace  for  her,  and  there  is  no  peace,  saith  the  Lord 
God." — Ezckiel  13:10-16. 

Therefore  for  a  time  he  hesitated  about  the  two  matters 
now  to  be  mentioned.  At  length,  however,  he  considered 
that  the  matters  themselves  are  in  no  sense  "  untempered 
mortar ;  "  and  he  trusted  that  his  presentation  of  them 
may  be  such  that  it  would  in  no  sense  be  "  untempered 
mortar ;  "  that  it  could  not  be  truthfully  said  that  he 
had  "  daubed  it  with  untempered  mortar." 

These  two  matters  are  President  Jefferson's  purchase  of 
the  Louisiana  Territory  and  President  Lincoln's  Eman- 
cipation Proclamation.  Both  have  been  charged  to  have 
been  blots  upon  the  escutcheons,  the  one  of  a  great  Re- 
publican president  and  the  other  of  a  great  Democratic 
president,  inasmuch  as  each  was  in  violation  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States. 

If  they  were  violations  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  which  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
each  so  solemnly  sworn  to  "  observe,  protect  and  defend," 
how  can  matters  be  reconciled  ?  how  can  the  act  of  each 
be  reconciled  with  the  oath  and  conscience  of  each,  and 
especially  in  the  light  of  the  above-mentioned  declaration 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  that  although  the  Constitution  was  not  as 
he   wanted   it,   vet   he   thought   it   a   "  great  and   solemn 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    169 

duty  "  to  preserve,  protect  and  defend  it,  as  his  oath  of 
office  would  require?  and  also  in  the  light  of  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's repeated  and  repeated  assertion  that  no  power  exists 
in  the  Federal  government  or  in  any  branch  thereof  except 
the  powers  granted  expressly  or  impliedly  in  the  Constitu- 
tion? Is  it  after  all  that  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Jefferson 
were  mistaken,  that  the  Constitution  is  not  binding  on  the 
consciences  of  Presidents,  Congresses  or  Supreme  Courts 
of  the  United  States  when  it  contains  matter  that  they  dis- 
like, or  when  it  does  not  contain  matter  that  they  like? 
It  is  believed  that  only  small  intellects  and  small  moral 
natures  could  so  hold.  Neither  Mr.  Jefferson  nor  Mr. 
Lincoln  ever  so  held  or  believed. 

In  the  first  case  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  a  great  emergency 
that  was  upon  the  country,  made  the  Louisiana  Purchase. 
He  admitted  its  unconstitutionality,  but  hoped  and  urged  a 
Constitutional  amendment  ratifying  his  unconstitutional 
act.  Had  this  been  done  as  he  wished  it  done,  and  as  it 
should  have  been  done,  all  would  have  been  well.  His 
unconstitutional  act,  as  he  admitted  it  was  unconstitu- 
tional, would  never  have  been  drawn  into  a  precedent  to 
plague  future  generations.  The  situation  was  this :  the 
territory  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  was  of  great,  almost 
vital  importance  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  One 
fact  alone  made  it  of  the  greatest  importance.  The  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi  River  and  much  of  the  length  of  that 
great  waterway  was  within  that  territory.  Its  importance 
to  the  country  may  be  shown  by  the  figure  it  cut  in  holding 
the  country  together  during  the  Civil  War,  from  i860  to 
1865.  That  river  called  thousands  of  soldiers  into  the 
Union  ranks.  They  said  one  part  of  that  great  river 
should  not  be  within  the  territory  of  one  nation  and  an- 
other part  within  the  territory  of  another  nation  ;  it  must 
all  belong  to  the  United  States.     The  condition  of  things 


170  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

with  the  French  nation  made  it  necessary  that  Bonaparte 
should  sell,  and  Jefferson  had  to  make  the  purchase  then 
or  never  at  all.  He  could  not  wait  for  a  constitutional 
amendment  to  give  him  authority,  for  before  that  could  be 
made,  the  opportunity  would  be  lost.  Jefferson  was  in  the 
position  of  an  agent,  or  servant,  who  saw  a  great  oppor- 
tunity for  his  principal,  or  master,  but  had  no  authority  to 
seize  it,  but  did  seize  the  opportunity,  trusting  that  his 
principal,  or  master,  would  ratify  the  act.  Should  the  prin- 
cipal, or  master,  fail  to  ratify,  the  agent,  or  servant,  would 
be  ruined ;  but  should  he  ratify,  all  would  be  well.  The 
agent,  or  servant,  should  not  claim  power  where  he  has  it 
not,  for  that  is  destructive  to  the  principal,  or  master.  He 
should  admit  want  of  power  and  plead  his  principal,  or 
master's,  interest  and  benefit  from  his  act  in  his  defense. 
This  is  just  what  Mr.  Jefferson  did.  He  did  not  let  slip 
the  opportunity  to  obtain  the  great  benefit  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  to  his  principal,  or  master,  the  American  people. 
He  did  not  claim  authority  to  act.  He  simply  put  matters 
in  such  a  situation  that  his  principal,  or  master,  the  Amer- 
ican people,  could  ratify  or  repudiate  his  act.  If  they  did 
the  former,  all  would  be  well ;  if  the  latter,  he  himself 
would  be  ruined.  The  people  never  repudiated  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's act  in  any  respect ;  the  benefit  to  them  was  too 
great.  He  had  their  gratitude  for  it  instead  of  their  dis- 
approval of  it.  Through  the  mismanagement  of  leaders 
at  the  time,  the  people  were  never  called  upon  to  ratify  the 
act  of  purchase.  Jefferson  wanted  it  done,  urged  it  to  be 
done,  and  had  it  been  done,  all  would  have  been  well. 
The  country  would  have  received  a  great  benefit  and  the 
Constitution  no  wound.  As  it  was,  this  wound  of  the 
Constitution  has  led  to  others,  not  so  much  from  the  fault 
of  Mr.  Jefferson  as  from  the  fault  of  those  who  were 
leaders  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  during 
those  times. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    171 

In  the  second  case,  the  case  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation,  the  facts  and  situation  were  similar. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  conducting-  the  Union  side  of  the  great 
Civil  War.  From  first  to  last  in  that  contest  the  negro 
was  an  important  consideration.  Some  think  he,  that  is, 
his  slavery,  was  the  cause  of  that  war,  though  in  truth 
other  causes  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  bringing  it  on. 
Before,  during  and  after  the  contest  the  status  of  the 
negro  was  an  important  matter,  indeed  it  is  not  wholly 
without  import  even  now.  His  status  during  the  war  be- 
came very  important.  What  to  do  with  him  when  he  was 
captured  and  brought  into  Union  lines,  or  when  he  vol- 
untarily came  therein,  was  a  question.  General  B.  F. 
Butler  claims  in  his  book  published  some  years  ago  that 
he  solved  the  problem.  He  said  those  negroes  are  11 
by  the  Confederate  authorities  in  construction  of  fortifi- 
cations, etc.,  hence  they  are  "  contraband  of  war,"  and 
shall  be  confiscated  to  the  Union.  This  was  done,  and 
the  negro,  although  he  had  obtained  freedom,  and  was 
"  a  man  and  a  brother,"  found  himself  again  a  "  chattel," 
this  time,  however,  a  "  confiscated  chattel ;  "  and  then  be- 
cause a  confiscated  chattel,  a  freed  chattel !  Truly  human 
slavery  produces  queer  logic.  Here  his  slavery,  the  quality 
of  "  chattel  "  in  him,  is  not  only  admitted,  and  admitted 
to  be  lawful," but  it  is  actually  made  the  cause,  foundation 
and  very  reason  for  his  freedom !  However  queer  it  may 
be,  it  was  accepted  as  the  solution  of  the  question,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  issued  his  Emancipation  Proclamation  on  it, 
claiming  the  right  to  free  all  the  slaves  as  a  "  war 
measure." 

But  like  Mr.  Jefferson,  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not  rest  here; 
he  and  his  friends- saw  the  necessity  of  legalizing  the  abo- 
lition of  slavery. 

A  point  of  some  importance  appeared  here.     Granting 


172  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

that  the  "  contraband  of  war  "  notion  freed  and  legally 
freed  those  negroes  who  had  been  actually  used  by  the 
Confederate  authorities  in  the  construction  of  fortifica- 
tions, etc.,  how  about  those  negroes  who  had  never  been 
so  used?  Could  "contraband  of  war"  reach  and  free 
those?  It  was  feared  not,  and  to  let  the  negroes  be  part 
free  and  part  slave  was  not  desired.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  contest,  and  before  the  beginning  of  the  war,  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  said  of  the  United  States  that  they  must  be 
all  slave  or  all  free,  that  a  house  divided  against  itself  can- 
not stand.  This  same  idea  may  have  had  some  effect, 
that  the  negroes  must  be  all  free  or  all  slave,  that  in  that 
case,  too,  a  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand. 

At  all  events  the  leaders  took  steps  to  cure  the  matter, 
and  in  the  same  way  that  Mr.  Jefferson  urged  the  matter 
of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  be  cured.  The  method  was  by 
an  amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution  abolishing 
slavery.  The  amendment  is  the  thirteenth,  and  is  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

ARTICLE    XIII. 

Section  i.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude, 
except  as  a  punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  United 
States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

Sec.  2.  Congress  shall  have  the  power  to  enforce  this 
article  by  appropriate  legislation. 

This  amendment  was  designed  to  cure  the  evil.  There- 
fore Mr.  Lincoln  acted  in  the  great  emergency,  that  was 
before  him  as  did  Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  great  emergency 
that  was  before  him ;  he  acted  as  he  deemed  his  principal, 
his  master,  the  people's  interest,  required,  and  trusted  to 
their  ratification  of  his  act.  This  case  is  stronger  than  the 
case  of  Mr.  Jefferson.     In  Mr.  Jefferson's  case  there  was 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    173 

no  ratification  by  the  people,  because  none  was  ever  asked 
of  them  ;  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  case  there  was  a  ratification, 
and  promptly  given  when  asked  of  the  people,  and  this 
ever  settles  the  matter.  Therefore,  when  properly  con- 
sidered, neither  the  case  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  his  Louisiana 
Purchase  nor  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  can  be  reasonably  drawn  into  a  precedent 
for  violating  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The 
right  to  violate  it  exists  in  no  man,  whether  president, 
legislator  or  judge ;  nor  in  any  set  of  men,  whether  presi- 
dents, legislators  or  judges.  Each  and  all  are  under  their 
oath  and  in  their  consciences  bound  to  obey  it,  bound  to 
observe,  obey,  protect  and  defend  it.  May  God  grant  that 
each  and  all  may  ever  do  so. 

Trusting  that  the  foregoing  will  convince  all  honest, 
rational  and  fair-minded  men  who  may  do  the  author  the 
honor  to  read  these  pages,  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  binding,  and  that  in  it  alone  is  to  be  constitution 
sought  the  legitimate  and  rightful  source  of  all  powers  and 
every  power  that  is  exercised  by  the  Congress  or  by  any 
other  department  or  branch  of  the  general  government,  let 
us  endeavor  to  see  what  provision  that  instrument  makes 
with  regard  to  money  ;  for  from  that  instrument,  and  from 
that  instrument  alone,  can  be  obtained  the  knowledge  that 
will  enable  us  to  answer  the  question  propounded  for  Part 
II  of  this  work,  to  wit,  What  is  money  in  the  United 
States  ? 

Having  in   Part   I  established  the  fact  that  money  is  Money  is 
tender,  and  that  tender  is  money,  and  that  nothing  else  but 
tender  is  money,  in  short,  that  the  two  terms  are  inter- 
changeable, in  logical  language  "  convertible,"  let  us  turn  comertn>ie 
to  the  Constitution  and  see  what  provisions  are  therein 
made  on  the  subject  of  money. 


CHAPTER    V. 

Constitutional    Provisions    Regarding   Honey. 

SECTION    I. 
The  Clauses  Themselves. 

The  clauses  of  the  Constitution  bearing-  on  the  sub- 
ject of  money  are  three,  to  wit:  — 

I.  The  first  one  is  contained  in  a  part  of  clause 
i,  section  10,  article  I,  to  wit:  — 

Limitation  on  the  Power  of  the  State. — "  No  State 
shall  .  .  .  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender 
in  payment  of  debts." 

2.  The  Borrowing  Clause. —  The  second  is  found  in 
clause  2  of  the  last-named  section,  to  wit :  — 

'  The  Congress  shall  have  power  ...  to  borrow  money 
on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  ;  "  and  — 

3.  The  Coining  Clause. — The  third  is  in  clause  5  of 
section  8  of  article  1,  to  wit, — 

'  The  Congress  shall  have  power  ...  to  coin  money, 
regulate  the  value  thereof  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix  the 
standard  of  weights  and  measures." 


'to' 


SECTION    II. 

A   Brief   Commentary   on   Those   Clauses. 

Sub-Section  I. 

Introductory. 

Thesis. —  The  thesis  now  proposed  to  be  established  is 
that  silver  coin  is,  and,  since  the  formation  of  the  Consti- 
174 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    175 

tution  of  the  United  States,  always  has  been,  money,  ten- 
der, and  there  is  no  power,  either  State  or  Federal,  to 
change  it  without  an  amendment  to  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution authorizing  the  change 

In  discussing  this  question  the  following  rule  of  in- 
terpretation is  laid  down,  to  wit :  — 

Rule  of  Interpretation. —  It  is  a  rule  of  interpreta- 
tion that  every  writer  on  the  Federal  Constitution  admits, 
that  when  a  power  is  claimed  to  be  in  the  general  gov- 
ernment, those  so  claiming  must  show  in  the  Con- 
stitution either  an  express  grant  of  the  power  claimed 
or  that  the  power  claimed  is  "  necessary  and  proper  "  to 
carry  out  some  express  grant  of  power  therein.  In  short, 
that  there  must  be  either  an  express  grant  of  such  power 
or  an  implied  grant  thereof. 

No  Express  Grant. —  There  is  not,  and  could  not  be, 
any  pretense  by  any  one  that  the  power  to  make  tender, 
the  power  to  say  what  thing  or  things  should  be  tender, 
is  an  express  grant  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  Then 
the  only  question  that  remains  is,  Is  there  in  said  Consti- 
tution an  implied  grant  of  such  power? 

No  Implied  Grant. —  The  very  language  of  clause  1 
of  section  10  of  article  1  settles  the  question  ;  there  is  abso- 
lutely no  room  for  doubt.  It  is :  "  No  State  shall  make 
anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts."  But  of  course  each  State  can  make  gold  and 
silver  coin  such  tender.  But  for  perversity  the  argument 
would  end  here.  The  language  admits  of  but  one  inter- 
pretation ;  there  is  no  need  of  construction.  The  lan- 
guage  interprets   itself. 

Tender  in  the  Colonies. —  Before  the  formation  of 
the  Federal  government,  each  State  or  Colony  in  America 
had  and  exercised  the  power  of  saying  what  was  tender 
in  said  State,  Virginia  saying  tobacco  in  it,  Massachusetts 


176  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

wampum  in  it,  etc.     Each  State  having  that  power,  then 
what  took  it  away  ? 

Passing  over  the  broad  claims  sometimes  made  for  the 
commercial  clause  in  the  Federal  Constitution,  three  things 
only  have  ever  been  suggested  as  having  done  so,  and 
these  are  the  three  clauses  mentioned  in  the  preceding  sec- 
tion, to  wit,  the  States'  limitation  clause,  the  borrowing 
clause  and  the  coining  clause. 


Sub-Section  II. 
First  Contention. 

Limitation  (i)     FlRST     CONTENTION:     THE     LIMITATION     ON     THE 

the  "states?  Power  of  the  States. —  The  first  is  (said  clause  1  of 
section  10  of  article  1  above  referred  to)  :  "  No  State  shall 
make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  pay- 
ment of  debts." 

When  it  is  said  that  no  State  shall  make  anything  but 
gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts,  can  it 
be  possible  that  it  meant,  no  State  shall  make  gold  and 
silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts  ?  No  State  shall 
make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  tender  means  it 
shall  not  make  those!     I  venture  to  assert  that  no  such 

interpreta-  interpretation  of  language  has  ever  before  been  thought  of 
by  civilized  man.  On  the  contrary,  the  conclusion  is  irre- 
sistible that  each  State  has  the  power  to  do  just  that  thing, 
to  declare  gold  and  silver  coin  such  tender,  and  it  can 
declare  nothing  else  such  tender ;  it  cannot  declare  gold 
or  silver  coin,  it  must  declare  gold  and  silver  coin,  if  it 
declares  anything.  Thus  the  "  legal  tender  "  is,  by  the 
Federal    Constitution,    "  fixed "    in   gold   and    silver   coin 

thT't'oni-.tY-  beyond  the  power  of  change  by  either  the  State  or  the 
Federal  government.  If  a  State  has  not  the  power  to 
declare  anything  whatever  such  tender,  in  short,  no  power 


tion    unique. 


Money 
fixed 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    177 

over  the  subject,  what  sense  is  there  in  saying  no  State 
shall  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  such  tender? 
In  that  case  the  language  in  said  clause  is  without  sense, 
meaningless,  utterly  void  and  nugatory  ;  it  cuts  no  figure 
in  the  instrument,  adds  nothing  thereto  and  takes  nothing 
therefrom.  That  must  be  a  vicious  interpretation  that  vicious  in- 
renders  such  language  of  no  effect.  The  truth  is,  the 
power  to  fix  tender  is,  under  the  Constitution,  either  a 
State  power,  the  State  power  being  limited  to  gold  and 
silver  coin,  not  gold  or  silver  coin,  or  it  is  a  constitutional 
power,  meaning  a  power  fully  expressed  in  the  Federal 
Constitution  and  self-executing,  requiring  neither  State 
nor  Federal  legislation  to  carry  it  into  effect,  except  the 
enacting  by  the  Congress  of  coinage  laws. 

In  either  case,  it  comes  to  precisely  the  same  thing.  If 
a  State  power,  the  State  must  have  "  legal  tender,"  and 
it  can  only  have  gold  and  silver  coin,  not  gold  or  silver 
coin ;  if  a  Federal  power,  then,  too,  the  Constitution  fixes 
it  in  gold  and  silver  coin,  not  in  gold  or  silver  coin.  In 
either  case  it  is  beyond  change  by  either  the  State  or 
Federal  power  until  an  amendment  to  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution authorizes  such  change. 

To  say  that  no  State  shall  make  anything  but  gold  and 
silver  coin  tender  means  that  no  State  shall  make  gold 
and  silver  coin  tender,  is  equivalent  in  logic  to  saying  that 
A  is  A  and  not  A  at  one  and  the  same  time.  a  is  a  and 

At  the  risk  of  once  more  being  considered  prolix,  a  few 
illustrative  cases  are  presented  :  — 

First  Illustration. —  First :  Suppose  in  the  most  re- 
mote and  benighted  school  district  that  ever  existed  in 
any  "  sleepy  hollow "  in  the  vast  dominions  of  Uncle 
Sam,  or  over  which  any  Ichabod  Crane  ever  reigned,  that 
twelve  boys,  to  wit,  James,  John,  Thomas,  Richard,  Wil- 
liam, Edward,  Samuel,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  Jeremiah 
12 


not 


178  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

and  Ezekiel,  should  approach  the  teacher  and  say : 
"  Teacher,  may  we  twelve  boys  go  in  swimming  to-day  ?  " 
and  he  responds,  "  None  but  James  and  John  may  go." 
James  and  John  go,  but  the  remaining  ten  remain.  Then, 
on  their  return,  the  teacher  flogs  James  and  John  for 
going!  Would  not  the  trustees  of  said  school  be  fully 
justified  in  dismissing  the  said  teacher  as  being  both 
mentally  and  morally  unfit?  In  such  case  it  might  truly 
be  said,  talis  paedagogus  nascitur  non  fit  [free  transla- 
tion, Such  a  pedagogue  was  born  an  ass,  not  made  such]. 
Second  Illustration. —  Second :  Suppose  a  cattle 
buyer  goes  to  a  cattle  raiser  and  says  to  him,  "  Will  you 
sell  me  some  cattle?"  The  cattle  raiser  says,  'Yes." 
Buyer  says,  "  At  what  price  ?  "  Raiser  answers,  "  Twenty 
dollars  a  head."  Buyer  says,  "  I  will  take  all  that  you  will 
let  me  have  at  the  price,  good  and  bad,  just  as  they  stand. 
Now,  how  many  may  I  take ?  "  Raiser  responds,  "  You 
can  have  none  but  those  in  corral  number  one  and  corral 
number  two."  Buyer  says.  "  I  will  take  them ;  "  and  he 
takes  the  cattle  in  corral  number  one  and  corral  number 
two,  and  subsequently  offers  the  raiser  the  amount  of 
money  agreed  upon.  Raiser  sues  buyer  in  replevin  or  any 
other  appropriate  manner ;  would  he  win  ?  Not  unless 
Congress-       the  Congress  of  the  United  States  were  the  jury! 

It  is  really  too  clear  to  admit  of  controversy  that  even 
were  it  the  case,  the  powers  under  the  Constitution 
were  powers  granted  to  the  States  therein  and  thereby 
that  they,  the  States,  would  have  the  undoubted  right  to 
make  gold  and  silver  coin  tender,  and  neither  the  Congress 
nor  any  other  department  or  branch  of  the  general  govern- 
ment could  "  say  them  nay."  And  when  it  is  considered 
that  the  powers  of  the  States  were  reserved  powers  and 
not  granted  ones,  then  it  would  seem  that  even  absurdity 
itself  could  not  claim  otherwise  than  that  the  States  had 
such  right. 


s  ion  a  I    jury. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    179 

Thus  far  it  is  seen  that  the  State  has  not  lost  its  power 
to  declare  what  shall  be  tender,  except  that  it  is  limited 
in  its  choice  to  gold  and  silver  coin,  not  to  gold  or  silver 
coin. 

The  Convention  of  1787. —  The  several  States  elected 
delegates  to  a  convention  to  revise  the  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration. The  convention  met  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  April,  1787,  and  elected 
Gen.  George  Washington  as  its  president. 

Mr.  Randolph's  Proposition. —  The  delegates  from 
Virginia,  as  the  movement  for  a  convention  had  orig- 
inated with  that  State,  requested  one  of  their  number,  Mr. 
Edmond  Randolph,  to  prepare  a  proposition  to  revise  the 
Federal  system.  Mr.  Randolph  did  so  in  fifteen  resolu- 
tions, but  the  question  under  consideration  in  this  book 
was  not  mentioned  in  any  of  them,  thus  leaving  the  money- 
declaring,  as  it  was  before,  with  the  several  States. 

Mr.  Charles  Pinckney's  Draft  of  a  Federal  Gov- 
ernment.—  On  Tuesday,  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  May, 
Mr.  Charles  Pinckney  laid  before  the  house  the  draft  of  a 
Federal  government,  which  he  had  prepared  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  convention.  In  article  eleven  of  said 
draft,  to  be  found  on  page  71  of  Mr.  Madison's  work, 
cited  on  page  188  of  this  book,  was  this  clause:  — 

"  No  State  .  .  .  shall  make  anything  but  gold,  silver  or  -Gold,  silver 
copper  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts.''  tender"*"  " 

Here  is  the  beginning  of  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
of  tender,  or  money,  in  that  convention  in  which  our  form 
of  general  government  was  framed.     But  this  proposition  Gold,  silver 
for  gold,  silver  or  copper  to  be  the  tender  for  the  United  rejected!1' 
States  was  rejected. 

The  Committee  of  Detail. —  On  Monday,  the  twenty- 
third  day  of  June,  Mr.  Gerry  moved  (seepage  418  of  said 
work)  that  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  for  the  es- 


i8o  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Committee 
elected. 


Committee's 
report. 


"  Specie    a 
tender." 


Specie  re- 
jected. 


Committee 
of    style    re- 
ports   digest 
of  plan. 


tablishment  of  a  national  government  (excepting  the  part 
relating  to  the  executive)  be  referred  to  a  committee  to 
prepare  and  report  a  constitution  conformable  thereto.  It 
should  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  convention  had  at  this  time 
been  in  session  over  a  month,  and  the  members  were  con- 
stantly suggesting,  proposing  and  discussing  plans  and 
systems  of  government  for  the  whole  country  and  the 
powers  to  be  granted  to  the  general  government  to  be  by 
the  constitution  formed.  The  motion  of  Mr.  Gerry  was 
adopted,  the  committee  to  be  appointed  the  next  day.  On 
the  next  day,  the  twenty-fourth  of  June,  the  committee 
was  elected  by  ballot,  and  consisted  of  Mr.  Rutledge,  Mr. 
Randolph,  Mr.  Gorham,  and  Mr.  Ellsworth.  This  com- 
mittee was  called  the  Committee  of  Detail.  (See  page  427 
of  said  work.) 

The  said  committee  of  detail  made  a  report  on  the 
twenty-sixth  day  of  July,  taking,  as  careful  men  should 
always  take,  time  to  do  their  work,  a  little  over  a  month. 
And  in  said  report  is  the  following :  — 

"  No  State  shall  make  anything  but  specie  a  tender  in 
payment  of  debts."     (See  page  459  of  said  work.) 

This  proposition  to  make  specie  the  tender,  likewise 
failed  to  meet  the  approbation  of  the  great  statesmen  and 
thinkers  who  composed  that  convention. 

The  Committee  of  Style.— On  Saturday,  the  eighth 
day  of  September,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  ballot, 
called  the  "  Committee  of  Style,"  etc.  It  consisted  of  Mr. 
Johnson,  Mr.  Hamilton,  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris,  Mr. 
Madison  and  Mr.  King.     (See  page  591  of  said  work.) 

On  Wednesday,  the  twelfth  day  of  September,  Dr. 
Johnson,  from  the  "  Committee  of  Style,"  reported  a 
digest  of  a  plan,  clause  1  of  section  10  of  article  1  of 
which  (to  be  found  on  page  706  of  said  work)  is  as 
follows :  — 

'  No  State  shall  make  anything  but  gold  or  silver  coin 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    181 

a  tender  in  payment  of  debts."     Mark  the  language  here,  "Gold  or 
gold  or  silver  coin,  the  choice  to  the  State  of  either,  or  the  tender." 
disjunctive  used. 

On  Friday,  the  fourteenth  day  of  September,  the  first 
clause  of  "  Committee  of  Style,"  to  wit,  clause  i  of  section 
10,  article  I,  was  altered  so  as  to  read:  — 

;<  No  State  shall  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  Gold  or 

i  r     i   1        »j        /o  <•  silver  re- 

a  tender  in  payment  oi  debts.        (See  page  729  of  said  jected. 
work.) 

The  language  here  is  changed  on  motion  to  gold  and  Gold  and 

•  1  n         ,,  ,,         ...  .  .  .  ,  .    ,  .  ,,   silver    made 

silver  coin;      or,     the  disjunctive,  is  rejected,  and      and,     the   tender, 
the  conjunctive  is  inserted  in  its  stead. 

Re-statement  in  Brief. —  A  glance  at  the  foregoing 
sketch  shows :  — 

First. —  Mr.  Randolph's  proposition  presented  early 
in  the  session,  making  no  reference  whatever  to  the  sub- 
ject of  money,  but  leaving  that  subject  where  it  was  be- 
fore, that  is,  in  the  uncontrolled  power  of  each  State. 

Second. —  The  draft  of  a  Federal  government  by 
Mr.  Charles  Pinckney  coming  on  for  hearing  over  a 
month  later,  providing  for  control  of  the  State  govern- 
ments on  this  subject,  by  limiting  their  choice  to  gold, 
silver  or  copper,  that  is,  leaving  to  each  State  its  choice  to 
have  gold  as  its  tender,  or  silver  as  its  tender,  or  copper  as 
its  tender,  or  perhaps  ail  three  of  them. 

Third. —  The  report  of  the  "Committee  of  Detail." 
coming  on  three  months  and  over  after  the  beginning  of 
the  session,  in  which  it  is  proposed  to  limit  each  State  to 
"  specie  "   as   its  tender  ;  and  — 

Fourth. —  The  report  of  the  digest  of  a  plan  by  the 
"  Committee  of  Style,"  coming  on  for  hearing  four 
months  lacking  two  days  after  the  session  began,  in 
which  it  is  proposed  to  limit  each  State  to  gold  or  silver 
coin  as  its  tender,  that  is,  each  State  could  have  gold  as 
its  tender,  or  it  could  have  silver  as  its  tender. 


182  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Century 
Dictionary. 


Nevada, 
statute  of 
1899   and 
those    of 
1901. 


But  all  of  these  proposals  were  rejected  after  debate, 
discussion  and  consideration  by  the  final  wisdom  of  the 
convention,  and  gold  and  silver  coin  were  fixed  in  the  Con- 
stitution itself  as  the  tender  of  the  whole  country,  free 
from  the  control  of  the  State  power,  and  also  from  the 
control  of  the  Federal  power. 

In  the  light  of  the  foregoing,  is  it  possible  for  intelli- 
gence and  honesty  to  say  that  either  any  State  or  the  Con- 
gress has  any  power  over  tender?  And  the  ruling  to  the 
contrary  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  is 
one  of  the  few  remarkable  instances  of  error  into  which 
that  court  has  fallen. 

In  the  face  of  all  this,  that  usually  very  accurate  work 
the  Century  Dictionary,  published  in  1895,  says:  — 

"The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  provides  that 
no  State  shall  make  anything  but  gold  or  [italics  are  the 
author's]  silver  coin  legal  tender  in  payment  of  debts," 
quoting  the  same  from  E.  Atkinson  in  the  Forum,  Oct., 
1 89 1,  page  226. 

And  mirabile  dicta  [wonderful  to  be  said],  the  plucky 
little  champion  of  bimetalism,  Nevada,  did  in  the  years 
1889  and  1901  fall  into  the  same  error.  Witness  the 
"  Statutes  of  Nevada,  1899,"  page  153,  "  No  State  shall 
.  .  .  make  anything  but  gold  or  [italics  the  author's] 
silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts ;  "  and  also  wit- 
ness "  Statute  of  Nevada,  1901,"  on  page  153  also,  "  No 
State  shall  make  anything  but  gold  or  [italics  the  author's] 
silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts." 

This  change  from  and  to  or  between  the  two  words 
"  gold  "  and  "  silver  "  began  in  1899 ;  before  that,  in  1897, 
it  was  printed  correctly,  "  gold  and  silver." 

In  view  of  these  errors  of  the  Gold  Solomons,  the 
Spellbinders,  the  Congress,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  the  learned  authors  and  publishers  of  the 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    183 

Century    Dictionary,    and   last,    but    not    least,    the    little 
champion  of  silver,   Nevada,  one  is  tempted  to  mutilate, 
alter  and  change  that  pathetic  prayer  of  the  Saxons  of 
England  on  the  invasion  of  their  country  by  the  Normans, 
"  Libera  nos,  Dominc,  furore  Normanorum  "  [Deliver  us,  The  prayer 
O  God,  from  the  fury  of  the  Normans],  to  "Libera  nos,  Saxons. 
Doniine,  malitia  malitiosorum,  avaritia  avarorum  et  stul-  The  prayer 
titia  stultorum  "  [Deliver  us,  O  God,  from  the  fury  of  the  American. 
furious,  the  malice  of  the  malicious,  the  avarice  of  the 
avaricious   and  the   folly  of  the   foolish!],   and  after  so 
treating,  to  adopt  it. 

Sub-Section   III. 

Second  Contention. 

(2)  The  Second  Contention  :  The  Money  Borrow-  The  money- 

/-<  t-»  1        o  1  1  •  borrowing 

ing  Clause. —  Does  the  State  lose  this  power  under  the  clause. 
second  subdivision  just  mentioned,  the  money-borrowing 
clause,  to  wit,  "  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  borrow 
money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  "  ?  The  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  "  legal  tender 
case,"  no  U.  S.,  page  448.  says  it  does.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  in  said  case  had  under  consid- 
eration this  question :  — 

Has   the    Congress    the   power   to   declare   the    United  Question 
States  treasury  note  (popularly  called  the  "greenback") 
a  "legal  tender"  in  payment  of  debts? 

To  which  question  Mr.  Justice  Gray,  speaking  for  a 
majority  of  the  court,  says,  Yes ;  because  the  Congress  is, 
under  said  clause  2  of  section  8  of  article  1,  given  the 
power  to  borrow  money!  So  complete  a  non  sequitur  is  Non  seq- 
rarely  met  with  in  any  kind  of  literature,  much  less  in 
judicial  decisions.  Just  to  think,  the  Congress  has  the 
power  to  borrow  money  ;  ergo,  the  Congress  has  the  power 


184  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


State    has 
such    power. 


Corporations 
have  such 
power. 


Each     persoD 
has   such 
power. 


Quotation 
from  opin- 
ion. 


Power    to 

borrow 

money. 

Power  to  de- 
clare   money 


to  say  what  thing  or  things  shall  be  money  —  the  power 
to  declare  money ;  that  is,  the  power  to  say  what  thing 
or  things  shall  be  "  legal  tender." 

If  the  power  to  borrow  money  carries  with  it  the  power 
to  make  money,  to  declare  tender,  the  power  to  say  what 
thing  or  things  shall  be  money,  the  power  to  make  "  legal 
tender,"  then  each  State  has  the  power  to  make  money,  to 
declare  money,  to  say  what  is  money,  to  make  "  legal 
tender ;  "  for  it  cannot  be  denied  that  each  State  has  the 
power  to  borrow  money.  Further,  many  corporations 
have  the  power  to  borrow  money,  and  they  also  have  the 
power  to  make  money,  to  declare  money,  to  say  what  is 
money,  to  make  "  legal  tender;  "  in  short,  each  citizen  of 
the  United  States  has  the  power  to  borrow  money,  pro- 
vided he  can  find  a  lender  thereof,  and  he  too,  then,  has 
the  power  to  make  money,  to  declare  money,  say  what  is 
money,  to  make  "  legal  tender !  " 

Lest  doubt  should  arise  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  as  to 
whether  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  as  stated, 
the  sentence  in  page  448  of  Volume  no,  U.  S.  Reports, 
will  be  here  quoted,  to  wit :  — 

"  The  exercise  of  this  power  [the  power  to  declare  the 
greenback  "  legal  tender  "]  not  being  prohibited  to  Con- 
gress by  the  Constitution,  it  is  included  in  the  power 
expressly  granted  to  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the 
United  States." 

Nothinsr  could  be  clearer  than  that  the  court  derives 
the  power  to  declare  the  greenback  "  legal  tender  "  from 
the  power  to  borrow  money !  And  it  is  perfectly  clear 
that  the  two  powers,  to  borrow  money  and  to  declare 
money,  the  power  to  say  what  shall  be  money,  are  totally 
distinct ;  there  is  no  connection  between  them.  The  power 
to  make  "  legal  tender  "  could  be  derived  from  any  other 
power  expressly  granted  to  the  Congress  just  as  reason- 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    185 

ably  and  as  logically  as  it  could  be  from  the  power  to  bor- 
row money.  Such  an  interpretation  is  virtually  an  over- 
throwing and  destroying  of  the  Constitution.  It  might 
with  equal  propriety  be  said  that  a  license  to  borrow  or 
sell  whisky  by  retail  would  be  a  license  to  manufacture  Power  to 

J  sell     whisky. 

or  make  whisky.  The  borrowing  or  selling  and  the 
manufacturing  or  making  would  each  relate  to  whisky, 
and  that  is  all  the  connection  between  them  ;  so  the  bor- 
rowing of  money  and  the  making  of  a  thing  by  law  to  be 
money  each  relate  to  money,  and  that  is  all  the  connection 
between  them.    Were  the  language  reversed,  that  is,  were  Language 

.  reversed. 

the  grant  in  the  Constitution  the  reverse  of  what  it  is,  to 
wit,  instead  of  saying,  "  The  Congress  shall  have  power 
to  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,"  it  had 
said,  "  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  tender," 
in  other  words,  to  make  anything  it  may  please  a  tender 
in  payment  of  debts,  then  the  power  to  borrow  could  with 
equal  reason  be  derived  from  the  power  to  declare,  as  the 
power  to  declare  can  now  be  derived  from  the  power  to 
borrow.  It  is  just  as  reasonable  to  say  that  a  power  to 
declare  money  "  includes  "  the  power  to  borrow  money, 
as  that  the  power  to  borrow  money  "  includes  "  the  power 
to  declare  money.  There  is  absolutely  no  logical  or  legal 
connection  between  the  grants. 

Asrain,  had  the  language  of  the  Constitution  been,  "  The  Language 

°  &       &  .  .  changed. 

Congress  shall  have  power  to  make  gold  and  silver  coin  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts,"  surely  it  could  not  with  any 
showing  of  reason  be  claimed  that  the  Congress  could 
make  gold  or  silver  coin  such  tender,  or  that  it  could  make 
anything  else  such  tender !  In  the  first  case  the  tender  is 
fixed  in  gold  and  silver  coin.  But  in  the  second  case,  to 
extend  such  a  grant  to  saying  that  the  Congress  could 
make  anything  else  than  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender 
would  be  equivalent  to  saying,  if  one  man  should  say  to 


186  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

another,  "You  may  have  my  coat  and  hat,"  the  court 
could  reasonably  interpret  it  to  mean  that  he  could  have 
his  shirt  also ! 

No  Strength  Gained  from  Other  Powers. —  It  adds 
nothing  to  the  argumentative,  logical  or  legal  strength  of 
the  reasoning  of  the  decision  of  the  court  to  lay  down  a 
number  of  other  powers  that  by  the  Constitution  are 
expressly  granted  to  the  Congress.  In  said  opinion  the 
following  other  powers  are  quoted  from  the  Constitution 
and  laid  down,  the  court  seeming  to  suppose  that  they 
might  in  some  way  strengthen  its  reasoning :  — 

"  The  Congress  shall  have  power  — 

"  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts  and  excises, 
to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defense  and 
general  welfare  of  the  United  States  ;  but  all  duties,  im- 
posts and  excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United 
States ; 

'  To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States ; 
'  To    regulate    commerce    with    foreign    nations,    and 
among  the  several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes ; 

"  To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of 
foreign  coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures." 

It  is  confidently  submitted  that  no  one  of  these  powers, 
vast  though  indeed  they  are,  even  hints  at  the  inclusion 
therein  of  the  power  to  say  what  thing  shall  be  money. 
Such  an  interpretation  could  interpret  anything  whatever 
into  the  Constitution.  Such  could  easily  interpret  mon- 
Monarehy  archy,  even  monarchy  absolute,  into  the  Constitution : 
interprete      ^^  ^  .^  &  stronger  reaS0n,  provided  monarchy  absolute 

were  believed  to  be  necessary  "  to  provide  for  the  com- 
mon defense  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States." 

If  the  Congress  or  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  can  interpret  anything  that  either  or  both  wish  into 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    187 
the  Constitution,  then  the  four  months"  labor  of  the  Phil-  Labor  in 

vain. 

adelphia  convention,  from  the  14th  of  April  to  the  17th  of 
September,  1787,  was  in  vain;  that  immortal  instrument 
is  abolished  by  interpretation!     The  will  of  the  Congress  Congres- 

J  '  sional  and 

or  the  will  of  the  Supreme  Court,  or  of  both,  as  the  case  judicial   will 

1  •  tin-    supreme 

may  be,  becomes  the  "  law  of  the  land,"  and  not  the  Con-  law. 

stitution  itself  and  the  "  laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof," 

as  the  said  Constitution  provides.      Such   interpretations 

are  not  interpretations  of  the  Constitution,  but  making  a  Making  a 

_  Dew   Consti- 

new  Constitution;  and  that  power  lies  not  in  the  Congress  Hon. 
or  the  Supreme  Court  or  in  both  of  them,  but  in  the  sov- 
ereign people  of  the  whole  United  States.    Law,  logic  and 
reason  are  crushed  and  smothered  by  such  interpretations! 

Liberty  and  justice  tremble  for  their  safety,  and  congres-  Congres- 
sional  and 

sional  and  judicial  tyranny  are  enthroned!  judicial  tyr- 

.  anny   en- 

Some    Comments   on    the    Decision. — After    laying'  throned. 
down  these  powers  heretofore  quoted,  the  court  seems  to 
become  somewhat  conscious  of  the  fog,  mist,  vagueness 
and  uncertainty  involved  in  the  opinion  that  far ;  and,  in- 
deed, as  well  might  it  lay  down  the  ten  commandments  Ten  Com- 

0  .  mandments 

or  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  then  claim  that  and  the 

.  ,  Declaration 

the  point  was  established  by  them!     No;  if  no  one  ot  the  <>t  inde- 

1  #  pendence. 

powers  claimed  carries  with  it  the  power  in  question, 
what  use  in  laying  them  down  in  the  opinion?  None.  If 
no  one  of  them  individually  carries  it,  then  all  combined  if    not    one, 

.  ,         •       ■    r      m  l      •  r   then    not    all. 

cannot  carry  it;  and  a  fortiori   [with  stronger  reason  | ,  it 

no  one  of  them  individually  even  tends  to  carry  or  include  No   tendency 

it.      And   it    is   confidently   affirmed   that   no   one   of   the 

powers  laid  down  even  tends  to  carry  with  it  or  include 

within    it   the   power   in    question.      As    well    derive    the 

money-declaring  power  from  the  power  to  declare  war  or 

make  treaties,  for  each  of  these  relate  to  money.     And  if  Treaty   mak- 

the   war-making  and   treaty-making  power  each   carried 

with  it  and  included  in  it  the  money-declaring  power,  then 


i88 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Scholastic 
puzzle. 


Modern 
puzzle. 


August 
tribunal. 


Arbitrary 
power  en- 
throned. 


the  money-making  or  money-declaring  power  would  be  in 
two  different  tribunals,  to  wit,  in  the  whole  Congress,  con- 
sisting of  the  Senate,  House  of  Representatives,  and  in 
the  President  "  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Sen- 
incongruity,  ate."  Such  a  situation  would  be  intolerable ;  for  the  Con- 
gress might  declare  one  thing  money  and  the  President 
and  Senate  another  thing  to  be  money !  Then  we  would 
congres-        have  a  congressional  monev  and  a  "  presidential  "-senato- 

sional    money  ' 

and  y  rresi- rial  money,  or  we  would  have  no  money  at  all;  tor  the 
senatorial      Congress,  havinc:  the  power,  migfht  sav  that  the  "  presiden- 

money.  &  ,         ,  i  11 

tial  "-senatorial  money  should  not  be  money,  and  that 
would  kill  it ;  and  the  President  and  the  Senate,  likewise 
having  such  power,  might  say  that  the  congressional 
money  should  not  be  money,  and  that  would  kill  it !  Then 
both  moneys  would  be  made  by  those  having  full  power  so 
to  make,  and  also  destroyed  by  those  having  full  power 
so  to  destroy.  This  would  not  indeed  be  the  old  scholastic 
puzzle  of  an  irresistible  force  meeting  with  an  immovable 
body ;  but  an  equally  difficult  modern  one  of  irresistible 
force  meeting  with  another  irresistible  force ! 

Truly  the  assertion  that  the  money-borrowing  power 
includes  in  it  the  money-declaring  power  is  so  extremely 
absurd  as  to  border  on  the  ridiculous,  although  it  does 
come  to  us  stamped  with  the  authority  of  the  "  most 
august  judicial  tribunal  in  the  world"!  To  argue 
against  this  is  like  arguing  against  the  proposition  that 
noonday  is  not  midnight !  It  is  so  destitute  of  logic,  rea- 
son, common  sense,  sound  sense  and  sound  judgment  that 
it  would  not  merit  even  mention,  were  it  not  that  so  great 
are  the  evils  flowing  therefrom  when  it  comes  from  the 
tribunal  that  it  does.  It  strikes  down  the  Constitution  of 
our  country  and  enthrones  arbitrary  power  and  plain 
usurpation  in  the  seat  of  government. 

Extract    from    Mr.    Madison's    Journal. —  In    the 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    189 

"  Journal  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,"  a  work  writ- 
ten by  Mr.  Madison  during  the  time  the  convention  was 
in  session,  the  notes  being  taken  as  he  sat  in  his  seat  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  debates,  may  be  found  strong  cor- 
roboration of  the  view  that  Congress  has  no  power  over 
tender.  The  account  may  be  found  on  pages  541,  542 
and  543  of  the  edition  of  said  work  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Scott, 
published  in  1893.    A  few  quotations  will  be  made:  — 

"  Mr.   Gouverneur   Morris  moved  to  strike  out,   '  and 
emit  bills   on  the   credit  of  the  United   States.'      If  the  Emit  bills  of 
United  States  had  credit,  such  bills  would  be  unnecessary ;  * 
if  they  had  not,  unjust  and  useless. 

"  Mr.  Butler  seconds  the  motion. 

"  Mr.  Madison:  Will  it  not  be  sufficient  to  prohibit  the 
making  them  a  tender?     |  Italics  Mr.   Madison's.]    This  Not  a  ten- 
will   remove   the   temptation   to   emit   them    with    unjust 
views.    And  promissory  notes,  in  that  shape,  may  in  some 
emergencies  be  best. 

"  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris :  Striking  out  the  words  will 
leave  room  still  for  notes  of  a  responsible  [italics  Mr. 
Madison's]  minister,  which  will  do  all  the  good  without 
mischief.  The  moneyed  interest  will  oppose  the  plan  of 
government,  if  paper  emissions  be  not  prohibited. 

"  Mr.  Gorham  was  for  striking  out  without  inserting 
any  prohibition.  If  the  words  stand,  they  may  suggest 
and  lead  to  the  measure. 

"  Mr.  Mason  had  doubts  on  the  subject.     Congress,  he  Power  exists 

,  ,  ,,11  1  -j  not     without 

thought,  would  not  have  the  power,  unless   it  were  ex-  express 
pressed.    Though  he  had  a  mortal  hatred  to  paper  money, 
yet  as  he  could  not  foresee  all  emergencies,  he  was  un-  safe  power, 
willing  to  tie  the  hands  of  the  legislature.     He  observed  voived  in 
that  the  late  war  could  not  have  been  carried  on  had  such  but  "not  the 

.....  .  unsafe,    the 

a  prohibition  existed.  power  of  <ie- 

c  1& riser    t<?ii~ 

"  Mr.  Gorham :  The  power,  as  far  as  it  will  be  neces-  der.  ' 
sary,  or  safe,  is  involved  in  that  of  borrowing. 


190  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Door    shut 
against 
paper 
money. 


"  Mr.  Mercer  was  a  friend  to  paper  money,  though  in 
the  present  state  and  temper  of  America,  he  should  neither 
propose  nor  approve  of  such  a  measure.  He  was  conse- 
quently opposed  to  a  prohibition  of  it  altogether.  It  will 
stamp  suspicion  on  the  government  to  deny  it  a  discretion 
on  this  point.  It  was  impolitic,  also,  to  excite  the  opposi- 
tion of  all  those  who  were  friends  to  paper  money.  The 
people  of  property  would  be  sure  to  be  on  the  side  of  the 
plan,  and  it  was  impolitic  to  purchase  their  further  attach- 
ment with  the  loss  of  the  opposite  class  of  citizens. 

"  Mr.  Ellsworth  thought  this  a  favorable  moment  to 
shut  and  bar  the  door  against  paper  money.  The  mis- 
chiefs of  the  various  experiments  which  had  been  made 
were  now  fresh  in  the  public  mind,  and  had  excited  the 
disgust  of  all  the  respectable  part  of  America.  By  with- 
holding the  power  from  the  new  government,  more  friends 
of  influence  would  be  gained  to  it  than  by  almost  anything 
else.  Paper  money  can  in  no  case  be  necessary.  Give 
the  government  credit,  and  other  resources  will  offer. 
The  power  may  do  harm,  never  good. 

"  Mr.  Randolph,  notwithstanding  his  antipathy  to  paper 
money,  could  not  agree  to  strike  out  the  words,  as  he 
could  not  foresee  all  the  occasions  that  might  arise. 

"  A I  r.  Wilson :  It  will  have  a  most  salutary  influence  on 
Paper  money  the  credit  of  the  United  States  to  remove  the  possibility  of 

impossible.  _,   .  .  1         1   -i    . 

paper  money.  I  his  expedient  can  never  succeed  whilst 
its  mischiefs  are  remembered.  And  as  long  as  it  can  be 
resorted  to,  it  will  be  a  bar  to  other  resources. 

"  Mr.  Butler  remarked  that  paper  money  was  a  legal 
tender  in  no  country  in  Europe.  He  was  urgent  for  dis- 
arming the  government  of  such  a  power. 

"  Mr.  Mason  was  still  averse  to  tying  the  hands  of  the 
legislature  altogether.  [Italics  Mr.  Madison's.]  If  there 
was  no  example  in  Europe,  as  just  remarked,  it  might  be 


No  paper 
money  in 
Europe. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    191 

observed,  on  the  other  side,  that  there  was  none  in  which 
the   government    was    restrained   on   this    head. 

"  Mr.  Read  thought  the  words,  if  not  struck  out,  would 
be  as  alarming  as  the  mark  of  the  beast  in  Revelation.  Beast  of 

lieveUitiou. 

"  Mr.  Langdon  had  rather  reject  the  whole  plan  than 
retain  the  three  words,  '  and  emit  bills.' 

"  On  the  motion  for  striking  out, — 

"  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,   Penn-  stricken  out. 
sylvania,  Delaware,  Virginia,,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro- 
line, Georgia,  aye  —  9;  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  no  —  2." 

In  a  foot-note,  Mr.  Madison  says  as  follows  :  — 

"  This  vote  in  the  affirmative  by  Virginia  was  occa-  Again,  no 
sioned  by  the  acquiescence  of  Mr.  Madison,  who  became 
satisfied  that  striking  out  the  words  would  not  disable 
the  government  from  the  use  of  public  notes,  as  far  as 
they  could  be  safe  and  proper,  and  would  only  cut  off  the 
pretext  for  a  paper  currency  [italics  Mr.  Madison's],  and 
particularly  for  making  the  bills  a  tender  [italics  Mr. 
Madison's],  either  for  public  or  private  debts." 

The  vote  to  grant  to  Congress  the  power  to  "  emit  bills 
of  credit  of  the  United   States  "   was   rejected   by   nine  9  to  2. 
States  in  the  negative  to  two  in  the  affirmative !     And  yet 
the  Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court  claim  that  the  power 
is  not  only  in  the  Congress  to  "  emit  bills  of  credit,"  but 
also  to  declare  them  tender ! !     How  could  the  same  bill 
at  the  same  time  be  a  "credit"  and  a  "tender;"  be  an 
evidence  of  a  debt  and  the  payment  of  the  same  debt? 
Could  absurdity  go  further  ?    Again,  it  is  A  and  not  A  at  a  and  not  a. 
the  same  time.     The  debates  show  clearly  that  it  was  the 
quality  of  tender  in  such  bills  that  was  dreaded  and  de- 
feated.    The  contrary  view  has  not  a  shadow  of  support 
in  the  language  of  the  debates,  the  language  of  the  Con- 
stitution or  in  the  history  and  temper  of  the  times.     In-  History  of 
told  evil  had  come  upon  the  colonies  and  States  from 


192  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


a 


paper  money."     The  "  continental  "  currency  furnished 

a  form  of  profanity  for  the  times  ;  a  worthless  thing  was 

said  not  to  be  worth  a  "continental  damn"!     And  one 

Hundred        hundred  years  later  the  Congress  and  Supreme  Court  of 

years   later.      ,  .  ...  , 

the  United  States  put  into  the  language  of  the  wise  and 
most  careful  framers  the  very  thing  that  they  detested 
and  abhorred  and  struck  out.  This  is  not  interpretation, 
but  simply  destruction  and  revolution. 

In  the  clause  immediately  following  the  coinage  clause, 
provision  is  made  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting 
the  "  securities  and  current  coin  "  of  the  United  States. 
That  provision  is  as  follows :  the  Congress  shall  have 
power  — 
Provides  '  To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting-  the 

against  .   .  f  ° 

counter-        securities  and  current  coin  of  the  United  States. 

feitiiig. 

Closely  observe  the  language :  "  To  provide  for  the  pun- 
Counterfeit-  ishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and  current  coin. 

tag   two  .  . 

things  pun-    Are  the  securities  of  the  United  States  monev  ?    None  but 

ishable:     (1) 

securities;      a   Spellbinder,  and  a  most  ignorant  one  at  that,  would 

(2)    current  l  '  f 

coin.  so  claim  !     "  Securities     are  "  written  promises  or  assur- 

ances of  payment  of  money,  evidences  of  debts,  as  govern- 
ment securities ;  "  written  promises  or  assurances  of  pay- 
ment of  money,  not  money  itself ;  evidence  of  debts,  not 
payment  of  debts.     There  is  no  provision  made  for  the 
punishment   of    counterfeiting   the    paper   money    of   the 
United  States.     If  greenbacks  are  paper  money,  that  is, 
Counter-        tender,   then  there   is  no  provision  made   in  the   Consti- 
greenbacks     tution   for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  them.     The 
punishable,     presses  of  the  land  may  run  in  open  daylight  and  strike 
off  thousands  upon  thousands  of  greenbacks  with  perfect 
impunity ! 

Then  we  have  been  reduced  to  this  lamentable  state, 
that  in  order  to  follow  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  in  its  attempts  to  interpret  into  the  Congress  the 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    193 

power  to  legislate  the  quality  of  tender  into  the  green- 
backs, a  conscientious  judge  is  compelled  to  turn  counter- 
feiters of  those  greenbacks  louse  upon  the  community; 
permit  those  counterfeiters  to  rob  the  honest  and  unsus- 
pecting with  impunity!  If  this  is  either  legal  or  right, 
then  moral  and  judicial  chaos  is  upon  us. 

Is  it  possible  to  believe  that  the  framers  of  the  Consti- 
tution would,  if  they  had  believed  that  the  Congress  had, 
under  the  powers  granted  to  it  in  the  Constitution,  the 
power  to  "  emit  bills  of  credit  "  with  the  quality  of  tender 
attached  to  them, —  that  they  would  have  left  the  counter- 
feiting of  them  unpunishable  ?     The  idea  is  preposterous. 

The  power  to  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counter- 
feiting the  "  securities  "'  and  "  current  coin  "  of  the  United 
States  did  not  exist  in  the  Constitution  without  an  express  Required  ex- 

r   Press    grant. 

grant  thereof,  else  what  need  of  an  express  grant  thereof 
therein  ?  If  therein  already,  why  put  it  therein  again  ? 
The  later  and  immodest  and  egotistical  and  arrogant 
assertion  that  the  framers  "  budded  better  than  they 
knew  "  is  the  cause  of  the  difficulty.  Such  immodesty, 
egotism  and  arrogance  wish  to  make  the  Constitution  as  Making  a 

11  1  •    1      tt  1  1  i-i-i   constitution. 

they  themselves  want  it !     Uut  who  gave  them  such  right  r 

—  No   one ;   they    have    it    not.      Such    interpretation    is 

simple,  plain,  bald  and  unblushing  usurpation!     And  the 

people  of  the  United  States  should  teach  the  usurpers  a  Much-needed 

much-needed  lesson. 

If  without  a  grant,  no  power  to  provide  for  punishing 
the  counterfeiting  of  the  "  securities  "  and  "  current  coin  " 
of  the  United  States  would  have  existed,  a  fortiori  |  with 
stronger  reason]  no  such  power  exists  now  to  provide  for 
the  counterfeiting  of  the  paper  money  of  the  United 
States,  to  wit,  the  greenbacks.  The  conclusion  is  logic- 
ally and  legally  irresistible  that  if  the  greenbacks  are 
"  legal  tender,"  that  is,  money,  and  are  not  mere  "  secur- 
13 


194  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

ities,"  that  is,  mere  promises  to  pay,  then  there  is  no  power 
in  the  general  government  or  any  branch  thereof  to  pro- 
vide for  counterfeiting  the  greenback.  Take  that  power 
of  punishing  their  counterfeiting  away  and  the  country 

Greenback  will  be  flooded,  not  with  silver,  but  with  greenbacks,  and 
the  government  bankrupted  thereby,  or  the  country  ruined 
thereby. 

It    should    be    observed    here    that    criminal    laws    are 

strictly  con-"  strictly  construed  " — that  there  cannot  be  interpreted 
into  them  what  is  not  in  them  in  the  letter  and  in  the 
spirit.  No  honest  and  conscientious  judge  in  the  land 
would  interpret  power  to  punish  counterfeiting  paper 
money  into  a  statute  providing  for  the  punishment  of 
counterfeiting  "  securities  "  and  "  current  coin  ;  "  for 
paper  money,  paper  tender,  is  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other.  Certainly  it  is  not  current  coin  ;  and  the  court  has 
held  that  it  is  not  mere  "security,"  but  it  is  payment! 
Ergo,  under  such  a  statute  it  cannot  be  punished. 

The  Constitution  provides  for  the  punishment  of  coun- 
terfeiting the  current  coin  of  the  United  States.  Could 
the  Congress  under  that  grant  of  power  provide  for  the 

counter-        punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  uncurrent  coin  of  the 

feiting   un-  .        ,     _  .         „n         .  .  ... 

current  coin. L  lilted  States?  Clearly  not.  At  times  some  English, 
French,  Spanish  and  South  American  coins  were  "  cur- 
rent "  in  the  United  States,  made  so  by  the  law  of  the 
Congress  under  the  power  granted  to  the  Congress  "  to 
coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof  and  of  foreign 
coin."  Those  coins  were  thus  made  tender  in  the  United 
States,  and  therefore  money.     They  were  "  current  "  and 

Counter-        were  "  coin,"  fulfilling:  everv  requirement  of  the  law  to 

felting    for-  ....  .    ,  '  ...  , 

eign  coin.  provide  for  the  punishment  ot  counterfeiting  the  current 
coin  "  of  the  United  States. 

Again,  coins  are  "  current  "  in  the  United  States  at 
times  and  the  same  coins  are  perhaps  uncurrent  at  other 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    195 

times.    The  writer  well  remembers  having,  in  his  boyhood 

days,  seen  silver  coins  of  the  denomination  of  three  cents  Three-cent 

pier*1. 

and  gold  coins  of  the  denomination  of  one  hundred  cents, 

or  one  dollar ;  and  he  is  not  certain  that  it  would  be  a  <;oin  dollar 

piect*. 

crime  under  the  United  States  law,  as  that  law  now 
stands,  to  counterfeit  those  coins.  The  question  would 
turn  on  the  point  whether  those  coins  are  now  "  current." 

Without  gross  violence  to  the  language  and  intent  of 
these  provisions  how  could  it  be  claimed  that  the  borrow- 
ing-clause, or  indeed  any  other  clause  of  the  Constitution, 
carried  with  it  or  "  included  in  it  "  the  power  in  the  Con- 
gress to  "  emit  bills  of  credit  "  having  the  quality  of  ten- 
der attached  to  them !  As  before  remarked,  reading  into 
the  Constitution  such  a  power  is  not  interpretation  of  it, 
but  it  is  destruction  of  it ;  it  is  anarchy,  and  anarchy  of 
the  worst  kind,  that  is,  anarchy  lurking,  concealed,  under  Lurking  an- 
the  forms  of  law.  Away,  away  with  such  monstrous  inter- 
pretations ! 

Accounting  for  the  Error. —  The  next  question  is, 
how  came  it  about  that  this  temporary  departure  from 
reason,  logic  and  the  sound  principles  of  hermeneutics 
occurred  with  a  tribunal  so  highly  respected  and  in  so 
many  instances  and  respects  so  well  deserving  of  that 
respect  ? 

The  greatest  men  starting  wrong  or  slipping  or  turning  Errors  of  the 
in  their  course,  make  the  greatest  blunders,  as  the  most 
powerful  engine  taking  the  wrong  "  switch  "  or  jumping 
the  rail  makes  the  greatest  destruction.  If  the  great  men 
never  made  blunders  or  committed  crimes,  we  small  men 
would  have  had  far  less  suffering  and  calamity  to  bear. 

Inter  Alia  [Among  Others],  Two  Causes  of 
Error. —  It  would  seem  that  inter  alia  two  things  had 
great  influence  in  bringing  about  this  disastrous  deci- 
sion :  — 


196  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Failure  of 
attorneys. 


Temper   of 
the   times. 


Brief   of 
counsel. 


"  Currency  " 
and  " ten- 
der "    the 
same    thing. 


( i )  The  attorneys  against  the  constitutionality  of  the 
tender  clause  of  the  greenback  enactment,  for  some 
cause  unknown  to  the  writer,  failed  to  do  their  whole  duty, 
in  that  they  did  not  properly  present  the  case  to  the  court ; 
that  is,  if  their  presentation  of  it  was  as  it  is  given  in 
their  arguments  printed  with  the  opinions  in  the  case ;  and 
(2)  the  temper  of  the  times  was  unfavorable  to  sound 
judicial  decision.  Of  course  the  general  misconception  of 
what  money  is  in  general,  that  is,  in  any  land  or  country 
at  any  time,  was  very  largely  responsible  for  the  error 
into  which  the  court  fell ;  but  the  extent  and  force  of  this 
will  be  left  to  the  general  effect  and  impression  of  this 
work,  with  the  single  remark  that  so  much  mist  and  fog 
and  vagueness  and  uncertainty  existing  in  the  writers  on 
the  subject  of  money,  left  the  court  in  the  same  condition ; 
and  the  truth  not  having  been  presented  to  the  court,  two 
errors  battled  before  it  for  supremacy,  and  preconception 
carried  victory  to  the  side  of  the  Congress. 

( 1 )  In  proof  of  the  first  point,  the  candid  and  fair 
perusal  of  the  brief  of  the  distinguished  counsel  for 
plaintiff  in  error  is  invited ;  it  can  be  found  in  1 10  U.  S. 
S.  C.  Reports,  pages  422  to  435.  Space  will  not  permit  a 
full  review  of  this  brief  here.  But  if  the  concept  and  def- 
inition of  money  given  in  Part  I  of  this  work  are  correct, 
then  indeed  has  it  fatal  defects  and  admissions.  Let  us 
state  just  one:  referring  to  the  greenbacks,  he  says, 
"  Viewed  as  currency,  aside  from  the  quality  of  legal 
tender,  they  were  none  the  less  evidences  of  debt,  with 
this  additional  function  imposed  upon  them,  and  con- 
tinued subject  to  the  provisions  of  that  act." 

In  the  foregoing  quotation  the  italics  are  put  in  by  the 
present  writer,  and  the  words  italicised  indicate  the  fal- 
lacy and  confusion.  How  could  there  be  in  the  same 
thing  at  one  and  the  same  time,  both  the  quality  of  "  legal 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    197 

tender"  and  the  "evidence  of  a  debt'*?      If  it   is  "legal  "Tender" 

and  evidence. 

tender  it  could  not  be  evidence  of  debt.  lender  —  con- 
trast here  the  simple,  clear  language  of  the  Constitution 
"tender"  with  the  confused  and  tautological  discourse 
of  the  later  writers'  "  legal  tender  "  -tender  accepted,  ex- 
tinguishes the  debt;  tender  refused,  stops  all  interest 
thereafter,  and  on  suit  being  brought,  subjects  die  refuser 
to  pay  the  costs  of  the  tenderer  as  well  as  his  own  costs, 
and  likewise  extinguishes  the  debt ;  because  the  law  re- 
gards the  tender,  that  is,  the  thing  tendered,  as  always  in 
the  power  of  the  creditor,  since  the  debtor  must  always 
have  it  to  deliver  on  the  demand  of  the  creditor,  and  alter 
suit  brought  the  tender  must  be  brought  into  court.  Think 
of  a  tender  being  an  evidence  of  debt!  A  owes  l'>  ,$100, 
and  hands  him  five  twenty-dollar  gold-pieces  ;  and  it  is 
claimed  that  those  five  pieces  are  an  evidence  of  debt! 
Not  so ;  they  are  evidence  of  the  payment  of  the  debt ! 
Tender  pays  debts ;  promises  to  pay,  whether  written  or 
printed  on  paper,  or  stamped  on  metal,  are  simply  evi- 
dences of  debts.  Tender  cannot  be  a  promise  to  pay  ;  it 
simply  pays;  and  a  promise  to  pay  cannot  be  tender,  it 
simply  promises,  does  nothing  more.     Therefore  a  "  legal  contradie- 

.    '   ,,  .  .  ....  .  tion    in 

tender     promise  to  pay  is  a  contradiction  in  terms!  terms. 

(2)  Again  in  said  brief  it  was  assumed  that  in  times 
of  war,  the  general  government  had  the  power  and  the 
right  to  declare  the  greenback  "  legal  tender."  If  that 
be  true,  then  it  has  that  right  at  all  times.     Where  is  the  Unwarranted 

.    ,  ,  r     1        /~>  •        •  11  assumption. 

article,  section  or  clause  of  the  Constitution   which  says 

or  implies  or  hints  at  the  existence  therein  of  such  a  power 

or  right  in  time  of  war?     It  has  never  been  pointed  out. 

It  has  been  assumed,  but  never  shown  to  exist.     No;  the 

Constitution  is  made  for  both  peace  and  war.     Powers  are  Peace  and 

granted  therein  suitable  for  times  of  peace,  and  likewise 

those  suitable  for  times  of  war.     Its  wise  framers  did  not 


198  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Constitution 
adequate  to 
war. 


Oath   of 
office. 


Same  for 
peace  and 
war. 


Life  of  the 
cation. 


Treason. 


Purse. 


overlook  the  probabilities  of  war,  either  foreign  or  do- 
mestic (civil),  but  they  therein  provided  fully  and  com- 
pletely for  both.  It  would  be  an  impeachment  of  their 
handiwork  had  it  been  otherwise !  The  Constitution  is 
the  same  in  peace  and  in  war  ;  it  changes  not ;  it  is  not 
one  thing  in  peace  and  another  in  war.  And  the  person 
who  takes  on  oath  to  "  support,  protect  and  defend  it," 
whether  that  person  takes  such  oath  as  president,  or  sen- 
ator or  representative  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  jus- 
tice of  its  Supreme  Court,  takes  it  regardless  of  times. 
He  does  not  swear  that  he  will  "  support,  protect  and  de- 
fend it,"  except  in  times  of  war,  and  then  that  he  will 
violate  it !  There  is  no  such  reservation.  He  swears  to 
"  support,  protect  and  defend  "  it  in  war  as  well  as  in 
peace,  and  a  violation  thereof  at  either  time  is  equally  a 
violation  of  his  oath.  Let  the  article,  section  or  clause 
thereof  be  pointed  out  which  relieves  him  of  his  oath  in 
time  of  war,  before  its  protection  is  pleaded  as  claimed. 
Such  article,  section  or  clause  has  never  been  found 
therein ;  and  it  never  can  be,  unless  put  there  by  amend- 
ment in  future.  It  is  not  there  now,  and  never  has  been 
there. 

Let  not  the  Spellbinder  fallacy  of  "  preserving  the 
life  of  the  nation  "  deceive  us  here.  The  life  of  the  nation 
should  indeed  at  all  times  be  preserved.  But  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  the  Constitution  does  not  provide  for  its 
own  preservation !  Shame  on  the  man  who  would  make 
such  a  charge  against  its  wise  framers !  See  the  vast 
powers  given  for  that  purpose  :  — 

Life-preserving  Powers. —  (1)  The  Constitution  de- 
fines treason  against  the  United  States,  and  provides  death 
as  the  punishment  therefor;  (2)  it  gives  the  general  gov- 
ernment the  full  power  of  the  purse,  the  power  to  tax  the 
citizen  and  people  owning  property,   whether  citizen  or 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    199 

not,  to  the  full  extent  of  all  their  money  and  property, 
including  in  the  latter  term  their  lands;   (3)    it  gives  to 
it  the  full  power  of  the  sword  ;  the  general  government  Sword, 
can  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  raise  armies 
unlimited  in  number!  and   (4)   it  gives  power  to  compel  -Military 

service. 

every  man  to  the  field  and  take  all  of  his  property  to  pay 
the  expenses  thereof!  And  yet  the  charge  is  made  that 
the  Constitution  does  not  provide  for  the  defense  of  the 
life  of  the  nation,  and  that  is  made  and  urged  as  an 
excuse  for  those  who  violate  it!  What  ought  to  be  said  Shame! 
of  such  a  doctrine? 

The  Constitution  gives  the  Congress  the  power  law- 
fully to  tax  to  the  full  extent  of  all  the  land  and  personal 
property,  money  being  included  in  the  latter,  in  the 
country ;  and  yet  the  Congress  in  mere  wantonness  and  No  excuse. 
lust  of  power  usurps  the  power  to  declare  the  green- 
back tender,  and  plead  the  defense  of  the  life  of  the 
nation  as  an  excuse!  Absurditas  absurditatum!  I  Ab- 
surdity of  absurdities.]  No;  this  excuse  will  not,  can- 
not salve  the  consciences  of  the  men  who  have  done,  or 
those  who  are  now,  doing  it ! 

Suppose  absolute  monarehv  were  necessary  to  preserve  Preservative 

11  -  ...      destruction. 

the  life  of  the  nation,  couid  the  Congress  introduce  it 
or  employ  it  without  violating  the  Constitution?  Is 
there  any  provision  therein  for  that  purpose?  And  if 
the  Congress  should  introduce  it  or  employ  it,  even  for 
that  purpose,  would  its  members  who  had  sworn  to  pre- 
serve, protect  and  defend  it  be  guiltless  of  perjury  and 
the  destruction  of  the  Constitution  ? 

Think  again  what  this  implies,  to  wit,  that  the  republic 
founded  by  the  wise  Fathers  is  not  competent  to  its  own 
defense,  but  must  call  in  a  better  form  of  government.  Better   form 

of  govern- 
to  wit,  an  absolute  monarchy!     No,  my  countrymen,  be  meat. 

not   deceived!     The   Constitution  provides   and   provides 


200  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Keniedy. 


Destroy    to 
protect ! 


well  for  any  and  every  emergency,  when  wisdom  and 
patriotism  and  unselfishness  administer  it.  Your  remedy 
is  to  turn  out  of  office  the  unwise,  unpatriotic  and  the 
selfish  and  keep  in  or  put  in  those  of  a  wise,  patriotic  and 
unselfish  character.  Shun  the  usurper  of  power,  in  what- 
ever department  of  the  government  he  may  be,  as  you 
would  an  adder ;  for  it  is  he  who  will  overturn  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws  of  your  country  and  destroy  your 
liberties ! 

Once  more,  if  there  is  any  power  not  granted  to  the 
general  government,  but  which,  at  the  same  time,  is 
necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the  life  of  the  nation, 
can  those  who  have  sworn  to  preserve,  protect  and  de- 
fend the  Constitution  as  it  is,  employ  that  power  with- 
out violating  their  oath  of  office  ?  When  the  employment 
of  such  a  power  goes  to  the  extent  of  overthrowing  the 
whole  Constitution,  as  would  be  the  case  in  the  employing 
of  absolute  monarchy,  then  would  it  not  be  revolution D 
and  when  it  goes  to  the  extent  of  only  partial  over- 
throw of  the  Constitution,  is  it  not  to  that  extent  revolu- 
tion —  partial  revolution  ?  That  would  be  burning  the 
barn  to  destroy  the  rats ;  killing  the  patient  to  cure  his 
disease !  Let  no  one  be  deceived ;  that  day  of  necessity 
has  not  yet  been,  and,  with  a  reasonable  amount  of  virtue 
in  the  people,  it  will  never  be ;  but  without  that  virtue 
there  is  no  telling  what  calamities  may  come  to  the  land. 
O  Spellbinder,  into  what  depths  of  gloom,  sorrow  and 
woe  have  you  led  your  countrymen !  and  far  worse  is 
coming,  unless  the  downward  course  is  arrested  ;  and  the 
fervent  prayer  is  that  it  may  soon  be  arrested. 

The  Greenbacks  During  the  Civil  War  and 
at  the  Present  Time. —  In  discussions  with  Democrats 
and  others  this  matter  has  come  up,  and  is  of  special 
importance,  since  a  mistaken  view  of  it  at  this  moment 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    201 

stands,  as  it  has  for  a  long  time  stood,  in  the  way  of  a 
scientific  and  constitutional  financial  system  in  the  United 
States.  In  conversation  with  many  Democrats  and  others 
with  the  object  of  getting  the  views  herein  expressed 
adopted  as  the  views  and  financial  policy  of  that  party, 
dialogues  similar  to  the  following  would  take  place:  — 

The  author  would  state  his  views  until  the  point  was 
reached  that  showed  the  greenback  could  not  constitu- 
tionally be  made  tender,  then  :  — 

Democrat:  "  Your  views  then  destroy  the  greenback,  as 
'  legal  tender  '?  " 

Author:  'Yes,  the  Constitution  will  not  permit  it; 
and  we  should  obey  the  mandates  of  that,  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land." 

D. :  "  But  I  have  always  been  a  greenbacker,  and  do 
not  desire  to  see  the  greenbacks  destroyed  as  '  legal 
tender,'  because  they  helped  us  during  the  civil  war ; 
they  materially  aided  the  cause  of  the  Union  during  the 
civil  war ;  and  I  have  always  been,  and  am  now,  in  favor 
of  them  as  a  '  legal  tender.'  " 

Vivid   indeed  in  the  author's  mind   is  the   impression  incident. 
of  one  conversation  with  a  very  prominent,  popular  and 
eloquent   Democrat.      When  the  point  was   reached  that 
showed    that    the    author's    views    destroyed    the    green- 
back as  tender,  he  said,  "  Well,  I  am  opposed  to  that." 
He  raised  his  hand  as  if  addressing  an  audience,  and  his 
fine  eyes  flashed,  as  he  continued,   "  Remember.   I   shall 
fight  that  as  long  as  I  have  voice  or  strength  to  battle!  " 
Similar  conversations,  though  less  striking  in  effect  per- 
haps, have  taken  place  with  other  Democrats,  and  with 
Silver  Republicans,  and  Populists,  and  Gold  Democrats. 
Indeed,  no  one  has  ever  shown  a  logical  or  legal  fallacy  Logical  <>r 
in    the   author's   position   on    the    money   question.      The  not  shown.  ' 
only  thing  has  been  with  the  silver  men,  that  it  destroys 


202  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Remedy. 


Votes    in 
Congress. 


Iieason 
court. 


Mere 
ment. 


seuti- 


xwo  Masses: the   quality   of   tender   in   the   greenback,    and    with   the 

hope  from  ..... 

tiie  first,  none  gold  men  that  it  tails  to  make  money  scarce.     With  the 

from   the  1111  1  1      •  1 

second.  latter  class,  the  gold  men  who  desire  money  to  be  scarce 

and  that  the  control  of  the  country  should  pass  into  the 
hands  of  the  "  moneyed  "  men,  there  is  no  hope.  That 
class  have  had  that  end  in  view  since  1862,  and  nothing 
but  power  can  swerve  them  from  it.  Argument,  reason, 
justice,  right  and  truth  are  helpless.  Power  to  outvote 
them  in  the  National  Legislature  alone  can  be  effective, 
or  argumentative  power  and  patriotic  sentiment  before 
the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
But  with  the  former  class,  it  is  believed  there  is  hope. 

Analysis  of  the  Greenback  Objection. —  Now 
let  us  endeavor  to  analyze  the  greenback  objection:  there 
are  five  answers  to  it,  any  one  entirely  sufficient :  ■ — 

1.  First,  mere  sentiment.  Mere  sentiment  should  not 
control  the  mind  in  such  matters.  Sentiment  and  grat- 
itude legitimately  influence  to  a  large  extent  in  the  cases 
of  human  beings  and  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the 
cases  of  animals,  but  not  in  a  non-sentient  thing  like 
the  greenback.  Reason  and  intelligence  forbid  this.  This, 
of  course,  assumes  that  the  greenbacks  were  beneficial 
during  the  war  (but  this  is  denied  as  a  fact,  and  the 
negative  will  be  proved  further  on),  and  that  they  are 
simply  harmless  now. 

2.  Second,  harmful  now.  Assuming  the  greenback 
to  have  been  of  service  during  the  war,  but  to  have  be- 
come harmful  now ;  surely  in  that  case  nothing  but 
financial  superstition  could  advocate  their  retention.  The 
subject  may  be  considered  under  three  aspects:  — 

3.  (a)  Harmful  during  the  war:  supplies.  Third, 
that  the  greenbacks  were  harmful  during  the  war ;  that 
they  wrought  great  evils  to  the  country  then,  and  are 
working   other    evils    to   the    country    now.      What    evil 


Serviceable 
t  lien,    harm- 
less now. 


Service- 
able  then, 
harmful 
now. 


Harmful 
then   and 
harmful 
now. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    203 

wrought   they   during   the   war?      The    Congress    issued 

diem    and    (leaving   out   the   constitutional    question    for 

the  time  being)   endowed  them  with  the  "  legal  tender  " 

quality.      They    soon    fell    off    in    value    sixty-five    (65)  Fail  of  65 

per  cent,  fell  down  to  thirty-five  (35)  cents  on  the  dollar. 

While   at   that   rate  the   government   purchased   millions  Supplies 

°  purchased. 

upon  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  supplies.  The  dealers, 
of  course,  in  fixing  their  prices  for  their  commodities 
"  allowed  for  the  depreciation  "  in  the  measure  of  value 
in  which  they  were  to  get  their  pay,  to  wit,  the  green- 
back, and  put  up  their  prices  accordingly.  A  thing  that  prices 
they  would  have  sold  for  one  dollar  before,  they  would 
then  charge  nearly  the  sum  of  three  dollars  for,  and  in 
many  cases  more,  because  the  merchants  allow  for  con- 
tingencies. Subsequently  the  government  redeemed  those 
"  legal  tender  "  greenbacks,  giving  "  dollar  for  dollar  "  raid  "dollar 
for  them  in  gold !  And  all  statisticians  agree  that  the 
"  legal  tender  "  greenback  enactment  made  the  war  cost 
the  United  States  from  two  to  three  times  more  than  it  Made  the 

war    <■<>-< 

would  otherwise   have   cost.     Think   a   moment,   too,   of  two  to  three 

times  more. 

redeeming  "  legal  tender  " !  That  which  pays  a  debt  has 
itself  to  be  redeemed ! 

All  this,  when  the  Constitution  gives  to  the  Congress 
the  full  taxing  power,  to  the  extent  of  every  acre  of  land  Taxing 

&    l  .    J  power. 

and  every  piece  of  personal  property,  including  every 
dollar  in  the  whole  United  States !  Was  there  necessity 
for  the  "  legal  tender  "  greenback  enactment  ?  —  No ;  a 
thousand  times  no !  Did  it  do  good  ?  —  No ;  a  thou- 
sand times  no  !  Did  it  do  harm  ?  —  Yes  ;  immense  and 
fearful  harm ! 

(b)   Harmful  now:  reserve.     Is  the  greenback  enact-  Greenbacks 
ment  doing  harm  now?  —  Yes,   immense   harm.     What 
harm  ?  —  It    causes    the    secretary    of    the    treasury    of 
the  United   States  to  keep  in   its  vaults  unused  and  out 


204  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Reserve.  of  circulation  a  large  supply  of  gold  coin  to  redeem 
these  "  legal  tender  "  greenback  notes !  Think  of  making 
them  "  legal  tender "  and  then  redeeming  them  as  if 
they  were  mere  promises  to  pay !  This  is  under  every 
administration  of  the  general  government  since  1873, 
the  excuse  given  for  a  large  part  of  the  large  reserve 
of  gold  coin  kept  in  the  vaults  of  the  treasury  at  Wash- 
Money  to  re-ington,  and,  of  course,  kept  out  of  circulation  —  a  reserve 

deem    money! 

of  money  kept  to  redeem  money !     This  reserve  is  one 
one  hundred  hundred  millions  of  dollars  !     And  when  the  New  York 

millions    of 

dollars.  banks  get  '  short  of  cash  "  the  secretary  of  the  treasury 

The  seere-    of   the   United   States   Hies   to   their   assistance   with   the 

tary   and   the  .  . 

banks.  money  of  the  United  States  ;  but  when  other  citizens  of 

the  great  republic  get  "  short  of  cash,"  he  budgeth  not. 
They  are  "small  fry;"  let  them  go  under! 

(c)  Real  and  apparent  measure  of  value.  The  "  legal 
tender "  greenback  enactment  is  doing  harm  now  in 
another  way,  and  has  been  doing  this  harm  for  years. 
It  is  this : — 

If  the  reader  will  call  to  mind  the  distinction  between 
the  apparent  and  the  real  measure  of  value  given  in  Part 
I  of  this  work,  he  will  readily  see  in  what  manner 
the  "  legal  tender  "  greenback  is  doing  harm  at  this  time. 
If  the  government  redeems  the  greenback  in  gold  coin, 

Nuiiifier,  the  it    nullifies    the    ;'  le^al    tender "    quality    of    it,    because 

quality   of  &  ' 

tender.  what  has  to  be  itself  redeemed  does  not  pay  debts  ;  and 

when  the  government  thus  keeps  in  its   vaults  and  out 

increases       of  circulation  so  large  an  amount  to  redeem  the  green- 
apparent        ...  .  .  .  ... 

measure  of    backs,   it   cuts   down   the   real   measure   01    value   by   so 

value,  but  ,  ,  ..  .  .  .     '. 

not  the  real. much,   while   the   apparent   measure   remains    as   betore. 
interpreta-     So  the  greenback,  while  under  congressional  enactment" 

tion    makes  L  . 

them  money. and  Supreme  Court  interpretation,  is  legally  tender,  yet 

praetiee  .  ...  .  -        _.    . 

makes  them  under  the  practical  administration  of  affairs  it  is  mere 

mere    prom-  , 

ise.  promise  to  pay,  and  has  itself  to  be  redeemed  in  money. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    205 

tender,  the  real  measure  of  value,  gold  coin.  This  makes 
confusion,  and  works  harm  to  the  great  mass  of  dealers  Confusion. 
and  business  men,  and  gives  undue  advantage  to  the  mil- 
lionaires and  those  of  great  wealth.  If  the  greenbacks 
are  money,  tender,  constituting  a  part  of  the  real  measure 
of  value  of  the  country,  they  should  be  so  treated  by  the 
government  that  makes  them  so ;  but  if  they  are  not 
money,  tender,  a  part  of  the  real  measure  of  value  of 
the  country,  they  should  not  be  so  represented  —  it  is  an 
imposition  to  do  so.  Again,  let  it  be  said,  to  redeem 
money  with  money  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  If  such 
is  the  character  of  the  greenback,  certainly  there  is  small 
ground  for  sentiment  in  their  favor  in  the  heart  of  the 
true  patriot,  one  who  truly  loves  his  country  and  aims  to  Attitude  of 
promote  her  prosperity  and  welfare.  patriot. 

4.  Fourth,  unconstitutional.  In  the  three  preceding 
points  it  was  assumed  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  and 
that  alone,  that  the  "  legal  tender  "  clause  of  the  green- 
back enactment  was  constitutional.  That,  however,  is 
not  the  case ;  it  is  clearly  unconstitutional.  Now  to  those  Green- 
who  are  inclined  to  let  sentiment  govern  their  minds  and  tender  un- 

.    .  .  1  a  •  oonstitu- 

actions  m  this  matter,  a  tew  remarks.  Assuming  now  tionai. 
in  this  point  the  contrary,  that  is,  that  the  said  enactment 
is  in  violation  of  the  Constitution,  can  it  be  possible 
that,  in  the  mind  of  any  one,  mere  sentiment  should  con- 
trol the  Constitution  of  the  United  States?  Is  the  Con- 
stitution binding  on  the  acts  and  conscience  of  the  citizen  ? 
If  not,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  honest  and  fair,  let  us 
abolish  the  sham !  If  it  is  binding,  then  can  anything 
overthrow  it  without  guilt  in  the  person  who  overthrows  Guilt. 
it,  either  in  the  whole  of  it  or  in  a  part  of  it?  Let  the 
people  of  America  beware  how  they  permit  the  infrac- 
tion of  their  Constitution,  even  in  the  smallest  part !  For 
when  the  time  comes  that  tyranny  attempts  to  usurp  the  Tyranny. 


206  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

seat  of  power  and  assume  the  reins  of  government,  as  it 
surely  will,  as  the  history  of  every  people  that  ever 
existed  shows,  then  the  tyrant  will  mockingly  say  to 
them,  '  You  regarded  not  your  Constitution,  and  why 
indeed  should  I  ?  "     But  suppose  the  people  make  answer, 

Motive  good."  But  we  disregarded  it  for  good  purposes,  with  pure 
and  laudable  motives,"  the  tyrant  may  still  taunt  them 
with,  "  Still,  you  disregarded  it,  showing  you  deemed 
it  not  binding  when  you  wanted  it  otherwise ;  so  I  dis- 

Motive  bad.  regard  it,  deeming  it  not  binding,  when  I  want  it  other- 
wise." 

i-oreed  loan.  5.  Fifth,  the  greenback  a  forced  loan,  and  that  with- 
out interest.  The  immorality  of  the  greenback  enact- 
ment will  be  fully  discussed  further  on,  and  therefore  will 
be  merely  mentioned  here.  If  they  were  made  money, 
tender,  for  all  purposes,  and  so  treated,  the  case  might 

Money  ma-    be  different,  according  as  the  material  of  which  money 

teriisl    scarce  1111  1  • 

or  insuffl-      could  be   made   was  or  was  not  too  scarce,  that  is,   so 

cieiit.  ...  ...  -     . 

scarce  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  get  enough  ot  it 
for  the  trade  and  business  of  the  country.  Could  such 
have  been  the  case  when  the  greenback  enactment  was 
enacted?  Surely  not,  when  a  few  years  later  money 
material  in  the  form  of  silver  was  demonetized,  stricken 
out.  The  inherent  dishonesty  of  striking  out  one  kind 
of  money  and  putting  in  another  kind  is  discussed  here- 
after. 

Again,  how  could  any  but  the  most  hardened  face  an 
audience  of  his  countrymen  and  say  to  them,  "  I  want 
inconsist-  the  Constitution  observed  and  enforced  in  one  particular, 
naming  it ;  but  I  do  not  want  it  enforced  in  another  par- 
ticular, naming  it!"  If  anything  could  justify  "hissing 
from  the  stand,"  would  it  not  be  this?  And  yet  men 
of  all  parties,  and  some  high  in  the  nation's  councils, 
after  admitting  to  the  author  that  the  Congress  had,  and 


eney. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    207 

has,  neither  the  power  to  make  the  greenback  tender 
nor  the  power  to  take  the  quality  of  tender  out  of  the 
silver  coin,  say  that  they  do  not  want  either  the  quality 
of  tender  taken  away  from  the  "  greenbacks  "  or  the 
quality  of  tender  restored  to  the  silver  coin  !  Could  any- 
thing, even  the  most  undoubted  and  highest  utility,  justify 
this  position?- —  No;  the  citizen  is  bound  by  his  allegiance 
to  observe,  support,  protect  and  defend  the  Constitu- 
tion ;  and  every  office  holder,  from  the  president  of  the 
United  States  down  to  the  constable  of  the  township,  is 
bound  to  do  the  same,  both  by  his  allegiance  and  by  his 
positive  oath  to  that  effect.  Conscience  says,  If  the 
Constitution  is  wrong,  amend  it ;  but  conscience  equally 
says,  Obey  it  until  it  is  amended.  The  author  admits 
himself  "  old-fashioned,"  that  he  believes  conscience  is 
a  higher  and  better  guide  than  prejudice,  and  that  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  binding  on  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  one  and  all,  both  great  and  small. 
He  was  told  once  by  a  very  prominent  statesman  of 
America  that  if  one  should  appeal  to  the  consciences 
of  members  of  the  Senate  or  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, that  "the  cloak-room  would  be  full  of  mem- 
bers," and  that  the  question  would  be  asked,  "  When  will 
the  idiot  get  through?"  His  answer  was,  and  it  now 
is,  "If  that  be  true,  we  have  already  passed  from  con- 
stitutional government  to  congressional  and  judicial 
tyranny,  and  the  people  should  know  it!" 

It  must  be  believed  that  those  desiring  greenbacks, 
whether  they  are  constitutional  or  unconstitutional,  and 
those  not  desiring  silver  coin,  although  silver  coin  is 
constitutional,  will  retreat  from  such  a  position  when  they 
reflect  on  the  gravity  of  the  case,  and  what  is  really  in- 
volved therein.  Hoping  that  such  may  be  the  case,  let 
us  return  to  the  question  of  the  constitutionality  of  the 


208 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


legal 


Temper    of 
the  times. 


Lift*  of  the 

ii.il  ion. 


Admission 
fatal. 


tender  '     clause    of    the    greenback    enactment. 

(2)  Second,  the  second  reason  for  the  remarkably 
illogical  and  unsound  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  is 
this :  the  temper  of  the  times  was  quite  unfavorable  to 
calm,  steady  and  sound  judicial  investigation  and  decision. 
The  country  had  not  long  emerged  from  a  great  Civil 
War ;  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  hour  had  not 
cooled  and  men  were  apt  to  look  upon  every  denial  of 
the  constitutionality  of  a  power  that  was  claimed  by 
the  Congress  as  having  its  motives  in  opposition  to  the 
Union  cause.  The  "  life  of  the  nation  "  fallacy  was  in 
the  very  air  and  may  have  invaded  the  usually  calm 
and  tranquil  region  of  the  judicial  mind.  The  counsel 
for  the  plaintiff  in  error  admitted  the  power  in  the  Con- 
gress to  declare  the  greenbacks  were  "  legal  tender  "  in 
times  of  war ;  and  the  court  could  most  logically  respond, 
'  Then  the  Congress  has  the  same  power  in  times  of 
peace,  for  there  is  no  difference  between  them."  The 
Assumption,  counsel  also  assumed  that  the  greenbacks  rendered  great 
service  to  the  Union  cause  during  the  war ;  and  they  also 
failed  to  show  wherein  they  were  harmful  in  time  of 
peace.  In  both  positions  they  were  wrong ;  the  green- 
backs wrought  injury  during  the  war,  and  they  are 
working  injury  now.  Of  course,  under  the  circumstances, 
the  court  dreading  any  assertion  of  limitations  on  the 
powers  of  the  Congress,  and  amid  the  general  fog  and 
mist  of  the  "  economic "  writers  on  money,  listened  to 
the  contest  of  the  two  erroneous  views  that  were  urged 
and  gave  judgment  in  accordance  with  the  temper  of 
the  times.  Under  the  circumstances  it  is  less  wronderful 
but  not  excusable  that  it  did  so. 

If  during  the  war  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
State  power  and  Federal  power  so  far  as  slavery  was 
concerned    was    in    controversy,    that    day    is    now    past. 


Two    errors 
in  contest. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?   209 

Forty-three  years  have  elapsed  since  the  unhappy  con- 
test began,  and  thirty-eight  since  the  echo  of  the  last 
gun  died  away  over  the  hills  of  Old  Virginia  at  Appo- 
mattox. The  men  of  the  North  and  the  men  of  the 
South  who  so  grandly  and  bravely  met  each  other  in  that 
ever-to-be-remembered  contest  are  nearly  all  in  their 
graves.  Lincoln  and  Davis,  Grant  and  Lee,  and  most  of  War  ended. 
the  gallant  comrades  of  each,  are  silent  in  the  sleep  of 
death.     Blue  and  array  meet,  srive  and  receive  the  hand-  The  blue 

to      -  &  .  and    the 

shake   of   cordial    friendship,   transact   business   together,  gray. 
their   sons   and   daughters   intermarry,  and   in   all   things 
act    as    if    the    loving   peace    between    them    had    never 
been  broken!     No  man  or  woman  in  America,  either  in 
the  North  or  in  the  South,  in  the  East  or  in  the  West, 
desires  or  would  consent  to  the  restoration  of  slavery,  or  slavery 
to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.     The   danger   from   that  **"' 
source  is   long  past.     Under  these   circumstances   to  be 
eternally  giving  the  best  attention  and  most  careful  guard 
to  the  points  of  danger  during  those  times  would  be  act- 
ing as  the  greatest  of  Grecian  orators  said  on  a  similar 
occasion  Athens  acted,  to  wit,  as  an  unskilful  boxer,  who,  The  boxer, 
well  remembering  the  spot  where  his  antagonist  struck 
him   last,  erects  his  guard  over  that  spot,  thus  leaving 
other    vulnerable    places    exposed,    and    therefore    meets 
defeat.     If  the  two  noted  prize-fighters  who,  some  years 
since,  fought  at  Carson,  were  ever  to  meet  in  the  ring  "Solar 
again,  it  is  not  believed  that  the  "solar  plexus"  of  the 
defeated  on  that  occasion  would  be  the  spot  on  which 
the  "  knock-out  "  blow  would  fall.     Both  athletes  would 
be  too  shrewd  for  that.     And  yet  the  Congress  and  the 
Supreme  Court  still  stand  guard  over  a  dreaded  "  solar 
plexus  "  blow  from  the  Southern  Confederacy !     Gentle- 
men, such  conduct  is  unwise!     Such  conduct  is  not  the 
conduct  of  statesmanship.     President  Lincoln  saw  clearly,  Lincota? 
14 


210  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

when   the   last   gun   at   Appomattox   was   fired,   that  the 

danger  from  that  quarter  was  forever  over ;  and  he  saw, 

The  new       too,  the  new  danger  from  what  he  called  the  "  enthrone- 

danger. 

ment   of   corporate   power ;  "   and   this   danger   he   more 

dreaded  than  he  had  ever  dreaded  the  other. 

The  burnt  True,  the  burnt  pig-  knows  the  fire ;  but  a  wise  man 

pig.  /  r  » 

or  nation  should  know  the  coming  danger,  although  not 
wise  man  or  felt    before.      Wisdom    anticipates    and    prevents    future 

nation.  .,,.,.  .  . 

evils ;  stolidity  receives  them  when  they  come,  and  after- 
ward bemoans  its  fate.     Let  not  the  United  States  act 
the  part  of  the  burnt  pig! 
Main  point        Read  the  briefs  of  the  counsel  in  the  said  case  and  the 

unnoticed.  .     . 

opinions  of  the  justices,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  no  argu- 
ment at  all  was  made  on  the  language  of  clause  I,  sec- 
tion 10  of  article  i,  to  wit,  "  No  State  shall  make  any- 
thing but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts,"  a  clause  that  by  itself  settles  the  whole  question. 
For  it  irrefragably  proves  that  but  for  this  limitation  on 
the  powers  already  existing  in  the  States,  the  States 
could  make  anything  they  pleased  a  tender  in  payment  of 
debts.  Now,  if  the  States  had  the  power  to  declare  tender 
Power  in  oneand  the  Congress  also  had  that  power,  then  there  were  clash 

only.  . 

and  conflict  on  the  face  of  the  instrument.  The  Congress 
might  say  one  thing  was  tender  and  the  State  another, 
and  then  who  should  decide?  The  truth  is  that  said 
clause  i  of  section  10  of  article  I  was  entirely  omitted 
from  the  discussion  by  both  court  and  counsel,  and  that 
is  the  controlling  clause  on  the  whole  subject !  Why 
this  was  the  case  the  author  is  unable  to  say.  Whether 
the  force  of  the  language  of  the  clause  was  unknown  to 
them  (for  they  certainly  had  it  before  their  eves,  as  it 
was  printed  in  the  court's  statement  of  the  general  powers 
granted  in  the  Constitution  to  the  Congress),  or  whether 
it  was  omitted  for  other  reasons,  is  to  the  author  unknown. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    21  1 

If  unknown  to  them,  it  is  melancholy;  if  known  and 
"vailed,"  as  a  very  great  man  once  said  the  seat  of  some  "Vailed." 
of  the  sovereign  powers  of  our  government  should  he, 
then  indeed  is  the  case  more  melancholy.  For  whomsoever 
the  truth  wounds  may  know  that  he  is  in  error,  li  the 
truth  hurts  one,  he  should  know  that  he  needs  its  medic-  if  the  truth 
inal  virtues;  and  in  this  respect  even  the  congressmen, 
the  senators  and  the  justices  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  are  the  same  as  other  people.  So  far  as  the  author 
is  concerned  any  discord  is  unpleasant  to  him ;  hut  if 
discord  be  inevitable,  he  would  prefer  to  be  in  accord 
with  truth  than  with  the  Congress  or  the  Supreme  Court. 
If  at  an)-  time  in  the  history  of  our  country  it  was  wise 
to  "  vail  "  the  place  in  which  any  attribute  of  the  sover- 
eignty thereof  is  placed,  the  time  has  now  surely  arrived 
to  make  an  unvailing  thereof.  The  wisdom  of  the  vail- 
ing at  any  time  may  well  be  questioned,  but  the  wisdom 
of  the  "  unvailing  "  at  the  present  time  is  beyond  ques-  Time  to 
tion.  The  people  should  know  their  rights  that  they  may 
intelligently  guard  and  defend  them. 

It  will  doubtless  be  granted  by  every  one  that  the 
tender-declaring  power  could  not  exist  in  two  different 
departments  or  branches  of  the  government  at  the  same 
time.  As  previously  stated,  one  might  declare  one  thing 
to  be  a  tender  and  the  other  another  thing  to  be  a  tender. 
There  are  but  three  possible  places  for  this  power  under  Throe  not- 
our constitutional  system,  to  wit,  (1)  in  the  separate  state  "'  c  P 
governments,  where  it  existed  before  the  formation  of  the 
general  government;  (2)  in  the  general  government,  or 
in  some  branch  of  it,  as  the  Congress  ;  or  (3)  in  the  whole 
people,  that  is,  embodied  and  fixed  in  the  Constitution, 
and  to  be  changed  only  in  the  manner  in  which  other 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  can  be  changed,  that  is, 
by  amendment  thereto. 


212  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silvei 

It  was  not  left  without  limitation  in  the  State  govern- 
ment as  it  was  before ;  the  language,  "  No  State  shall 
make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  pay- 
ment of  debts,"  is  too  plain  a  negation  for  that.  That 
it  was  not  granted  to  the  general  government  or  to  the 
Comparison    congressional   branch   of   it    is   equally   clear.      Compare 

with    other         .  . 

instruments,  similar  language  in  any  other  grant  of  things  or  powers. 
A  is  by  will  making  grants  of  lands  to  B  and  C.  He 
wills  to  B  "  all  of  my  lands  in  the  county  of  Z,"  and  then 
wills  to  C  "  all  of  my  lands  in  the  county  of  T."  He 
then  adds  a  clause,  saying,  :'  No  part  of  my  lands  in 
the  Manor  of  Dale  and  the  Manor  of  Sale  is  hereby 
willed  to  B,  the  Manors  of  Dale  and  Sale  being  in  the 
county  of  Z."  Can  it  be  possible  that  interpretation,  how- 
ever ingenious  it  may  be,  could  interpret  the  ownership 
of  Dale  and  Sale  into  C  ?  No ;  the  ownership  of  Dale 
and  Sale  would  remain  just  where  it  was  before,  that  is, 
in  the  grantor  A.  So  here  the  tender-declaring  power 
remains,  so  far  as  this  clause  is  concerned,  just  where 
it  was  before,  in  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States, 
if  there  is  to  be  a  tender  common  to  all  of  the  States. 

Had  it  been  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  instru- 
ment to  transfer  the  tender-declaring  power  for  each  State 
from  the  State  to  the  Congress,  can  it  be  even  imagined 
that  those  learned,  profound  and  straightforward  men 
would  have  "beat  round  the  bush"  in  this  manner?  — 

Apt  ian-  No ;  they  would  have  said  plainly  and  simply,  '  The 
Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  what  thing  or  things 
shall  be  tender,"  and  "  No  State  shall  have  power  over 
tender,"  just  as  they  said,  '  The  Congress  shall  have 
power  to  declare  war,"  etc.,  etc.  On  the  contrary  they 
studiously  avoided  giving  the  tender-declaring  power  to 
the  Congress;  because  they  wisely  refused  to  entrust  that 
or  any   other   department   of   the   government   with   that 


gruage. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    213 

most  tremendous  and  alarming  of  all  the  powers  of 
government!  That  power  they  fixed  in  the  Constitution, 
to  be  changed,  if  ever,  by  themselves  only,  that  is,  the 
people. 

Again,    as   to   the   money-borrowing   clause,    compare  Compare 

...  .  ,'  .  .         .      ,..  .     .        .     similar 

similar  language  in  any  other  situation  in  lite.  A  land-  language. 
lord  writes  to  his  farm  manager,  saying,  "  Borrow  horses 
with  which  to  do  a  certain  piece  of  work,  naming  it." 
The  manager  argues:  '  'Borrowing'  includes  'making,' 
therefore  I  will  buy  brood  mares  and  raise  the  horses." 
Could  he  bind  the  landlord  on  such  a  document?1  Truly, 
truly  this  interpretation  passes  human  belief!  Before 
its  sweeping  usurpation  nothing  is  safe ! 

Therefore,  so  far  as  the  first  and  second  contentions, 
to  wit,  the  tender-declaring  clause  and  money-borrow- 
ing clause,  are  concerned  there  is  not  the  "  shadow  of 
shade  "  of  power  in  the  Congress  to  make  the  greenback 
"  legal  tender."  So  far  as  the  "  legal  tender  "  quality  of 
the  greenback  is  concerned  this  argument  might  end 
here  ;  for  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  does 
not  claim  the  power  under  any  other  clause  than  the 
money-borrowing  clause. 

Therefore  the  only  possible  seat  of  the  tender-declar-  True  s<>:it  of 

the    power. 

ing  power  is  in  the  third  place  above  mentioned,  to  wit, 
the  whole  people  of  the  United  States ;  and  at  present  it 
is  fixed  and  settled  in  gold  and  silver  coins,  subject  to 
change  only,  as  it  should  be,  by  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States  through  amendment  to  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution. 

The  question  might  reasonably  be  here  asked,  How  are 
these  gold  and  silver  coins  that  in  the  United  States  are 
to  be  the  tender  in  payment  of  debts,  to  be  made?    Where  Seat  of  coin- 
is  lodged  the  power  to  make  them  ?     The  answer  to  the 
third    contention    for   the    existence    in    the    Congress    of 


214  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  money-declaring  power,  or  the  tender-declaring 
power,  will  also  be  answer  to  this  question ;  and  to  that 
answer  let  us  immediately  proceed.     It  is  contained  in  — 


Sub-Section  IV. 

The  Third  Contention. 

(3)  The  third  contention,  as  hereinbefore  stated,  was 
under  clause  5,  section  8,  article  1,  to  wit:  "The  Con- 
gress shall  have  the  power  to  coin  money,  regulate  the 
value  thereof  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix  the  standard  of 
weights  and  measures." 

Again  the  "  legal  tender  "  making  power  being  in  the 
State  or  Colony  before  the  formation  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  did  the  State  or  Colony  lose  it  under  said 
clause  5  of  section  8  of  article  t,  above  mentioned,  to 
wit :  '  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  coin  money, 
regulate  the  value  thereof  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix 
the  standard  of  weights  and  measures  "? 

The  same  argument  that  in  general  proves  such  power 
not  to  go  with  the  borrowing  clause,  will  avail  to  show 
that  such  power  goes  not  with  the  coining  clause. 

To  coin.  To  coin   is  merely  to  weigh,   alloy,   shape  and   stamp 

metal,  as  it  were  hall-marking,  so  that  one  interested 
can  see  at  a  glance  that  a  piece  offered  in  payment  has 
the  requisite  amount  of  metal  therein. 

In  former  times  in  England  bishops  of  the  church  and 
others  had  and  exercised  the  power  to  coin  money ;  that 
is,  to  weigh,  alloy,  shape  and  stamp  metal.     In  California 

who  coined,  in  the  "  '49  "  days,  private  persons  coined  gold,  that  is, 
weighed,  alloyed,  shaped  and  stamped  that  metal.  But 
the  power  to  make  or  declare  money,  to  say  what  is 
money,  to  say  what  is  "  legal  tender,"  is  a  power  totally 


Same  argu- 
ment. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    215 

different  from  weighing,  alloying,  shaping  and  stamping- 
metal.  The  power  to  regulate  the  value  of  money  coined  To  regulate 
is  the  power  to  say  what  proportion  of  pure  metal  and  of 
alloy  shall  be  in  the  pieces  of  metal  coined,  to  wit:  as  to 
silver,  so  much  in  the  dime,  so  much  in  the  quarter-dollar, 
so  much  in  the  half-dollar,  and  so  much  in  the  dollar; 
and  likewise  as  to  gold,  so  much  in  the  half-eagle,  so 
much  in  the  eagle,  and  so  much  in  the  double  eagle ;  and 
so  on  for  any  other  coin  that  the  Congress  might  by  law 
authorize  to  be  made  and  have  made,  Of  course,  fixing 
the  amount  of  silver  in  the  silver  coins,  and  the  amount 
of  gold  in  the  gold  coins,  is  fixing  the  ratio  between  the  The  ratio. 
silver  and  the  gold. 

To  regulate  the  value  of  foreign  coins  is  to  sav  what  Regulate 

j-         •  •  1      11    1  111  r    f«r<''fin     coin- 

toreign  com  shall  be  considered  equivalent  to  any  one  of 
the  coins  above  mentioned;  or,  as  the  case  may  be,  any 
other  coin  that  the  Congress  might  in  future  see  proper 
to  authorize  and  have  made.  In  other  words  it  is  simply 
adopting  a  foreign  coin  as  a  coin  of  the  United  States, 
the  same  as  if  the  Congress  should  weigh,  alloy,  shape 
and  stamp  two  pieces  of  metal,  and  call  each  piece  "  a 
dollar,"  as  it  did  in  the  "  trade  dollar  "  and  the  "  standard 
dollar."  The  Congress  did  in  former  days  adopt  foreign 
coin ;  of  the  coins  adopted,  some  were  the  coin  of  Eng- 
land, some  those  of  France,  some  of  Spain  and  some  of 
the  South  American  states.  And  when  it  adopted  them, 
it  simply  said  in  the  statutes  what  each  coin  thus  adopted 
should  be  equivalent  to  in  the  coin  of  the  United  States. 
For  instance,  the  "  Spanish-milled  dollar,"  as  the  coin 
was  called  in  the  statute,  was  declared,  "  regfulated,"  to 
be  equivalent  in  value  to  the  silver  dollar  of  the  Amer- 
ican coinage;  and  this  silver  dollar  of  the  American 
coinage,    under   the   first    statute    on    the    subject    in    the  Silver  the 

standard    of 

year  1792,  was  by  the  said  statute  made  the  unit  or  stand-  i~i>~ 


2i6  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

ard  of  value ;  all  of  the  other  silver  coin,  and  the  "  gold 

dollar,"  and  all  the  other  gold  coins,  were  "  regulated  " 

in  value  by  it,  made  to  conform  to  it.     In  other  words, 

struck   down  the  Congress  of  1873  in  its  usurpative  act  struck  down 

power  in       the  standard  of  value,  the  monetary  unit,  erected  by  the 

1873 

whole  people  of  the  United  States,  and  erected  one  dic- 
tated by  only  a  part  of  said  people,  to  wit,  the  Gold 
Solomons ! 

Adopting  This  action  of  the  Congress  in  saying  what  some  of  the 

'coin  of  England,  France,  Spain  and  some  of  the  South 
American  .states  were  equivalent  to  in  value  in  the  Amer- 
ican coin  was  the  same  as  if  the  Congress  had  coined 
other  coins  and  said  what  they  should  be  equivalent  to  in 
value  based  on  the  monetary  unit ;  to  wit,  the  American 
silver  dollar.  And  when  the  Congress  of  1873  usurp- 
atively  (if  a  word-coining  may  be  allowed)  struck  down 
the  silver  dollar  of  the  whole  people,  and  erected  the  gold 
dollar  of  the  Gold  Solomons,  it  was  acting  as  did  Aaron 
and  his  wicked  followers,  who,  while  Moses  was  in  the 
mount  receiving  instruction  and  guidance  from  the  Most 

Golden  calf.  High,  fashioned  a  "  golden  calf '  and  by  it  seduced 
Israel  away  from  the  worship  of  the  true  God.  So  the 
wicked  Congress  of  1873,  while  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States  were  quietly,  steadily  and  industriously 
pursuing  their  usual  affairs,  not  dreaming  that  danger, 
treachery  and  betrayal  were  at  hand,  dethroned  the  silver 
dollar  of  the  forefathers  and  enthroned  the  gold  dollar 
of  the  Gold  Solomons,  rolling  the  silver  dollar,  as  it  were. 

Dagon.  in  the  mud,  as  if  it  were  a  mere  Dagon,  and  thereby  se- 

duced the  people  from  their  own  true  standard  of  value, 
the  silver  dollar,  and  also  their  own  true  measure  of 
value,  the  gold  coins  and  the  silver  coins,   and  erected 

Apparent  instead  an  apparent  measure  of  value ;  to  wit,  gold  coins 
and    six    substitutes    or    representatives    of    those    coins. 


measure. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    217 

thereby  entailing  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  more  of 
suffering  and  misery  upon  them, —  and  more  to  follow 
unless  a  check  to  it  can  be  made. 

Further  than  the  foregoing  as  to  the  power  of  ( Congress 
to  "  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof  and  of  foreign 
coin,"  there  is  not. 

The  Congress  has  not  the  power  in  any  other  sense  to 
declare  or  regulate  the  value  of  either  the  coins  of  the 
United  States  Mint  or  of  those  the  Congress  might  see 
proper  to  adopt  from  foreign  mints.  The  Congress  has 
no  power  to  "  declare  "  or  "  regulate  "  the  purchasing  Xo  control 
power  in  the  markets  or  trade  of  the  United   States,  or  chasing 

|M)\V«T. 

elsewhere,  of  either  the  coins  of  the  United  States  mints 
or  those  of  any  foreign  mint. 

The  Congress  has  the  power  to  coin,  that  is  to  weigh, 
alloy,  shape  and  stamp  the  two  metals  gold  and  silver ; 
and  in  another  clause  of  the  Constitution,  the  Congress 
is  given  the  power  to  provide  for  the  prevention  of  coun-  Counter- 
terfeiting  the  coin  it  has  provided.  But  the  power  to 
declare  money,  say  what  is  "  legal  tender,"  is  in  neither 
any  State  nor  in  the  Congress ;  it  is  fixed  and  settled  by 
the  Constitution  in  gold  and  silver ;  not  in  gold  or  silver, 
or  vet  in  other  substance  or  material,  or  in  all  combined, 
but  simply  in  gold  and  silver  coin. 

It  is  frequently  remarked  of  those  good  and  great  and 
wise  men  who  framed  our  Federal  Constitution,  that  they 
"  builded  better  than  they  knew."  That,  it  is  believed,  is  "Ueit.-r 
a  mistake.  The  truth  may  be  thus  expressed  :  they  builded  knew." 
better  than  their  descendants  and  their  successors  in  the 
administration  of  the  Federal  government  that  they  so 
wisely  framed  have  known. 

When  in  the  Constitution  a  power  is  expressly  granted 
to  the  Congress,  it  is  generally  and  correctly  interpreted 
as  meaning  that  the  said  power  is  exclusively  granted  to 


2i8  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  Congress ;  that  is,  no  other  branch  or  department  of 
government  has  it,  neither  the  State  governments,  nor 
any  department  of  the  Federal  government,  other  than  the 
Congress ;  that  is,  has  it  to  the  extent  needed  for  the 
whole  country  and  whole  people.  Thus  when  the  Consti- 
tution says  the  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  war, 
it  has  never  been  claimed  that  the  war-declaring  power 
lies  elsewhere  than  in  the  Congress ;  so  with  the  power  to 
lay  taxes  on  imposts,  and  some  other  powers.  It  is  true 
that  in  some  cases  powers  granted  to  the  Congress  are 
not  deemed  taken  away  from  the  States  until  the  Con- 
gress exercises  its  power  in  reference  thereto.  For  in- 
stance, the  Constitution  gives  the  Congress  the  power  "  to 
establish  a  uniform  rule  ...  on  the  subject  of  bank- 
ruptcies throughout  the  United  States."  This  has  been 
correctly  interpreted  to  mean  that  until  the  Congress 
passes  such  uniform  rule,  each  State  can  make  a  rule 
applicable  only  to  itself,  but  not  thereafter.  When  and 
while  the  congressional  law  is  in  operation,  the  State  law 
erases  to  be  effective;  but  the  State  power  rises  again 
when  the  Congress  repeals  its  law  on  the  subject.  While 
the  question  has  never,  so  far  as  the  author's  knowledge 
extends,  been  raised  as  to  whether  a  State  can  coin  money 
for  use  within  its  own  boundaries,  it  seems  to  him  that  it 
could  not.  Such  power  would  be  at  least  like  the  bank- 
ruptcies power  ;  that  is,  inoperative  during  the  time  that 
there  were  in  operation  coinage  laws  enacted  by  the  Con- 
gress. Were  the  Congress  to  abolish  all  of  its  coinage 
laws,  and  not  enact  others  in  their  stead,  a  very  serious 
question  and  condition  of  things  would  arise.  Under  such 
a  condition  of  things  the  question  would  arise,  Would  the 
States  be  compelled  to  do  without  coins,  money?  Such  a 
condition  of  things  has  never  existed,  and  probably  never 
will  exist.     Hence  its  discussion  here  would  be  fruitless. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    219 

But  while  laws  of  the  Congress  do  exist  providing  for  the 
coinage,  it  seems  clear  that  laws  of  the  States  providing 
for  the  same  thing  would  not  only  be  useless  but  also 
mischievous.  Two  reasons  seem  conclusive  of  the  ques- 
tion :  — 

(1)  Confusion  would  follow:  there  would  be  the  Fed- 
eral dollar  and  the  State  dollar:  and  constant  misunder- 
standing and  bickering  over  the  same  ;  and  — 

(2)  Legal  impossibility  would  exist.  If  the  Federal 
dollar  should  have  412^2  grains  of  silver  therein,  and  the 
State  dollar  only  400  grains,  or  vice  versa,  which  should 
pay  a  debt?  If  the  State  dollar  should  be  ruled  to  pay  a 
given  debt,  then  the  Federal  dollar  would  be  nullified,  de- 
monetized, and  the  congressional  law  defied,  and  thus  an 
express  grant  of  power  to  the  Congress  by  the  Constitu- 
tion set  at  naught. 

On  the  contrary,  if  the  court  should  hold  that  the  State 
dollar  of  400  grains  could  not  pay  the  debt,  but  that  only 
the  Federal  dollars  of  412^  grains  could  so  pay,  then 
the  State  coinage  law  and  the  State  dollar  would  be  of  no 
effect.  The  seat  of  the  coining  power  must  be  exclusively 
in  the  one  or  the  other,  either  in  the  State  government  or 
in  the  Federal  government.  It  could  not  without  conflict 
exist  in  each  at  the  same  time.  Then  which  must  give 
way,  the  State  or  the  Federal  law?  —  Manifestly  th? 
former;  for  clause  2  of  Article  VI  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  is  as  follows :  — 

'  This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
which  shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and 
the  judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything 
in  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding." 


220  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Under  the  said  clause  manifestly  the  conflicting  State 
law  would  be  a  nullity  ;  and  the  debt  could  not  be  paid  or 
discharged  by  the  State  dollar.  It  is  impossible  that  two 
things  different  in  value  should  pay  the  same  debt  unless 
the  law  expressly  so  declares.  If  the  creditor  has  the  legal 
right  to  demand  the  more  valuable  dollar,  the  Federal, 
then  the  debtor  cannot  pay  with  the  less  valuable,  the 
State  dollar ;  and  if  the  debtor  has  the  legal  right  to  pay, 
discharge,  his  debt  with  the  less  valuable,  the  State  dollar, 
then  the  creditor  cannot  demand  of  him  the  more  valuable, 
the  Federal  dollar.  The  two  would  be  inconsistent. 
Hence  the  State  must  \  ield  ;  and  therefore  it  follows  that 
the  State  cannot  "  coin  money."  It  might  indeed  coin 
metal,  but  such  coin  could  not  be  money. 

It  should  perhaps  be  remarked  here  that  the  California 
coins  heretofore  referred  to  were  not  money,  and  those 
coining  them  or  offering  them  in  trade  made  no  pretense 
that  they  were  money.  Those  coins  were  fifty-dollar 
pieces  and  called  "  slugs."  In  real  essence  they  were 
simply  bullion,  bullion  hall-marked  so  that  one  to  whom 
a  piece  of  it  was  offered  could  know  that  it  had  the 
requisite  amount  of  metal  therein;  but  debts  could  not 
have  been  paid  with  them  ;  the  creditor  might  have  taken 
them  and  cancelled  the  debt,  but  not  unless  he  chose  to  do 
so.  The  characters  of  those  coining  them  were  the  only 
guaranty  for  their  weight  and  fineness.  Like  any  other 
article  of  trade,  the  character  of  the  maker  is  the  only 
guaranty  for  the  cpiality  of  the  article.  When  such  char- 
acter is  good,  the  article  passes  in  trade ;  when  such  char- 
acter is  bad,  the  article  may  be  good,  but  the  maker's 
character  gives  no  assurance  of  it,  rather  the  contrary.  The 
article  may  "  sell  itself,"  but  the  maker's  character  will  not 
sell  it.  Those  coins  were  not  money.  Their  shape  being 
octangular,  prevented  them  from  being  counterfeits.    Had 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    221 

they  been  in  size  and  shape  like  the  Federal  coins,  those 
coining  or  passing  them  would  have  been  counterfeiters ; 
and  on  conviction  thereof  would  have  been  confined  in  the 
penitentiary  as  felons. 

The  coinage  of  the  bishops'  and  others  was  different. 
There  the  "  crown,"  the  sovereign,  delegated  to  the  bishop 
and  some  others  the  right  to  coin,  the  said  "  crown  " 
having  said  right  to  delegate,  as  it  also  had  the  right  to 
declare  the  money  metals.  The  two  powers  should  be 
kept  distinct  in  mind  ;  to  wit,  ( 1 )  the  power  to  declare  the 
money  metals,  and  (2)  the  power  to  coin  those  metals 
into  coin,  thus  making  them  money.  Legal  coins  are 
money ;  illegal  coins  are  not  money.  Making  coins  under 
a  law  enacted  by  proper  authority  is  right  and  beneficial, 
and  coins  so  made  are  money ,  but  making  coins  similar 
to  the  legal  coins  is  wrong,  and  even  criminal,  and  coins 
so  illegally  made  are  not  money. 

Those  good  and  great  and  wise  framers  of  our  form 
of  Federal  government,  having  vast  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  and  deep  insight  thereinto,  and  large  experience 
in  governmental  affairs,  and  knowing  the  weakness  and 
corruption  of  man  and  the  danger  to  which  liberty  was 
ever  exposed  in  consequence  thereof  chose  in  said  clauses 
of  said  Constitution  to  erect  a  barrier,  as  they,  in  many 
other  clauses  of  that  immortal  instrument,  chose  to  erect 
barriers  asfainst  the  oncominsf  tide  of  ignorance,  weak-  oncoming 

°  .  tide. 

ness  and  corruption  that  they  foresaw  would  inevitably 
beat  against  the  structure  that  they  had  so  wisely  and 
benevolently  framed. 

Forecasting  the  future  they  in  act  said :  If  the  people  of 
these  United  States  should  become  poverty  stricken,  they  The   danger 

."of  poverty. 

may  make  unwise  and  desperate  efforts  to  better  their 
condition,  as  did  their  progenitors  in  the  dark  days  of 
the  Revolutionary  period,  by  making  things  other  than 


222  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


gold  and  silver  coin  money ;  to  wit,  tobacco,  wampum, 
beaver  skins,  paper,  etc.,  etc.,  things  unsuited  to  such  a 
function,  and  thus  unwittingly  bring  upon  themselves 
untold  woes  and  miseries.  And  on  the  other  hand,  should 
The   danger  the  said  people,  or  a  large  part  of  them,  become  rich  and 

of   wealth.  *        l  &      l 

prosperous,  they  may,  as  is  common  in  such  cases,  be- 
come also  vainglorious,  arrogant  and  overbearing,  and 
say,  "  There  is  too  much  money  in  this  land ;  the  common 
people  make  a  living  too  easily ;  they  have  too  much  time 
to  cultivate  their  intellects ;  they  may  become  too  inde- 
pendent to  be  governed  as  we  wish  to  govern  them,  or 
to  serve  us  as  we  wish  that  they  serve  us.  We  must  nar- 
row the  basis  of  money ;  make  it  less  plentiful,  and  there- 
fore harder  to  get,  so  that,  as  we  have  now  the  greater 
part  of  gold  we  can  make  it  so  much  more  valuable,  and 
thus  increase  our  power  over  men,  labor  and  the  products 
of  labor.  We  will  strike  out  one-half  of  the  money,  take 
away  from  silver  its  money  function  and  leave  its  com- 
modity function  only,  thus  making  the  rich  richer,  more 
vainglorious,  more  arrogant  and  overbearing,  and  the 
poor  poorer,  more  abject,  more  cringing,  more  debased 
and  obedient." 

The  Fathers  said,  "  No ;  we  will  equally  prevent  the 
superabundance  and  the  consequent  debasement  of  money 
by  its  overproduction  by  declaring  other  things  than  gold 
coin  and  silver  coin  money,  '  legal  tender ; '  and  the  under- 
production and  scarcity  and  the  consequent  overvalua- 
tion of  money  by  declaring  gold  coin  alone  to  be  money, 
or  declaring  silver  coin  alone  to  be  money.  We  will  have 
neither  '  over '  nor  '  under,'  but  simply  satis-produc- 
tion  —  just  the  right  amount,  neither  too  much  nor  too 
little.  We  will  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  either  the  Con- 
gress or  the   State   legislatures   to  make  other  thing  or 

coin   and   silver   coin   money,   a   legal 


Narrow 
basis   of 
mouey. 


Strike   out 
half   of   the 
money. 


Satis-pro- 
(luction. 


things   than 


gold 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    223 

tender.  Those  coins,  the  gold  coins  and  the  silver  coins, 
shall  be  the  money  of  the  country,  and  nothing  else 
shall   be. 

Tims  the  "  crime  of  '73"  though  its  aim  was  deadly, 

was  wholly  a  nugatory  act;  the  shield  of  the  Federal  Con-  The  shield 

.     .  ,  ,     rr    ,       .      „     1  ,  1  of  "'«'  Con- 

stitution is  interposed  to  ward  on  the  deadly  blow,  and  stitution. 

through  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  our  forefathers, 
silver  is,  and  though  we  all  may  not  always  have  known 
it,  always  has  been,  money,  "  legal  tender."  Lazarus  can 
tender  his  dimes,  quarter-dollars,  half-dollars,  and  dol- 
lars of  silver,  in  any  amount  to  Dives,  and  Dives  dare  not 
refuse  to  take  them.    Laus  Deo!     [Praise  be  to  God!] 

Just  here  it  may  again  be  stated  that  "  legal  tender  " 
is  money,  and  nothing  else  is  money.     Only  that  thing  is  Definition   of 

•  7    7  r  1  •  i  1     money. 

money  which  discharges  a  debt  or  an  obligation,  though 
the  creditor  or  obligee  may  be  unwilling  that  it  discharge 
it;  and  tender  is  the  only  thing  that  can  do  that. 

The  other  things,  so-called  money,  are  only  represen-  Represen- 

r      •  1  •       r   11  tatives   of 

tatives  of  money,  but  not  money,  it  is  on  this  tallacy  money, 
that  the  vast  structure  of  substitutes  for  money  is  built ; 
that  fruitful  source  of  speculation  and  disaster.  In  this 
country  there  is  now  left,  if  the  silver  demonetization 
enactments  are  held  constitutional  and  valid,  but  one  kind 
of  money,  to  wit,  gold  coin  ;  but  there  are  six  kinds  of 
so-called  money,  to  wit:  (1)  gold  certificates;  (2)  silver; 
(3)  silver  certificates;  (4)  treasury  certificates;  (5)  na- 
tional bank  notes;  and  (6)  treasury  notes,  popularly 
called  greenbacks,  since  every  Federal  administration 
since  1873  has  treated  the  greenback  as  mere  token,  not 
money ;  like  unto  silver,  mere  promise  to  pay,  not  as 
pay. 

The    Fractional    Silver. — The    best    that    can    be  silver  not 
claimed  for  silver,  the  demonetization  act  being  held  valid, 
is  that  ten  per  cent  of  it,  that  is,  ten  per  cent  of  the  frac- 


224  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


tional  silver  only,  and  not  of  the  silver  dollar,  is  money ; 
and  that  is  too  small  to  be  of  any  practical  value. 

Indeed  not  that  much.  For  if  A  owes  B  $100  he  can 
compel  B  to  take  ten  dollars  of  it  in  silver  coin,  and  that  is 
ten  per  cent.  But  if  A  owes  B  $1,000,  even  $1,000,000,  still 
B  can  compel  A  to  pay  all  but  ten  dollars  in  gold  coin  ;  and 
what  per  cent  of  the  million  dollars  is  ten  dollars  ?  Thus 
we  see  in  every  case  the  larger  transactions  of  the  rich  are 
protected  in  gold  coin,  the  legal  money  ;  but  the  smaller 
transactions  of  the  poor  must  go  on  in  unprotected 
mo"e°n'etized  money>  demonetized  money,  silver.  In  act  the  gold 
standard  men  say.  Provided  the  millionaire  is  protected, 
what  care  we  for  the  poor  man  ? 

Let  us  make  an  illustrative  case  here.  Suppose  a  poor 
man  acquires  a  little  business  in  which  he  takes  in  from 
time  to  time  ten-cent  pieces,  twenty-five-cent  pieces  and 
fifty-cent  pieces.  He  lives  very  economically,  and  after 
ten  or  twenty  years  he  has  saved  and  kept  in  some  secret 
place,  say,  five  thousand  dollars.  He  then  wishes  to 
"  settle  down,"  and  agrees  to  buy  a  small  tract  of  land  for 
a  house  for  his  family  and  himself,  the  price  agreed  upon 
being  one  thousand  and  fifty  dollars,  fifty  dollars  being 
paid  to  bind  the  bargain.  The  deed  is  made  out  and 
signed  and  acknowledged  by  the  grantor  and  tendered  to 
the  buyer  on  his  paying  the  thousand  dollars.  The  buyer 
gets  out  his  "  strong  box  "  and  counts  out  the  supposed 
money  in  the  silver  coin  that  he  has  taken  in  his  own  deal- 
ings. The  seller  says,  "  No;  I  shall  not  take  those  except 
to  the  amount  of  ten  dollars.  You  must  srct  me  srold  coin 
of  the  United  States  for  the  remainder,  the  nine  hundred 
and  ninety  dollars.  I  reject  all  the  silver  coin  as  not 
being  tender,  except  the  ten  dollars."  The  poor  man 
replies,  "I  cannot  get  those."  "Then,"  says  the  seller, 
"  I  shall  sue  you  for  damages  for  breach  of  contract."    He 


Fractional 

silver. 


Savings    of 
<  lie   poor. 


Illustrative 
cases. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    225 

dors  so,  and  collects  five  hundred  dollars  in  damages  and 
costs ! 

The  same  poor  man  having  taken  possession  of  the  lot 
contracts  with  a  builder  to  build  him  a  house  for  his  fam- 
ily and  himself  at  a  thousand  dollars.  When  the  house  is 
finished,  he  draws  out  of  his  strong  box  or  secret  place 
a  thousand  dollars  in  dimes,  quarters  and  halves,  and 
offers  them  in  payment.  The  builder  rejects  them,  say- 
ing, "I  refuse  to  receive  them,  all  except  ten  dollars  of 
them,  because  the  remainder,  the  nine  hundred  and  ninety, 
are  not  tender."'  The  poor  man  again  finds  himself  in  the 
clutch  of  the  law,  and  has  in  the  end  to  pay  heavy  dam- 
ages and  costs. 

In  the  meantime  the  poor  man  has  contracted  with  a 
furniture  dealer  to  furnish  his  expected  house  for  his 
family  and  himself.  The  furniture  is  sold  to  him  for  a 
thousand  dollars.  The  dealer  requests  payment.  The 
poor  man  offers  payment  in  dimes,  quarter-dollars  and 
half-dollars.  They  are  refused  with  like  statement  as 
before.  Again  suits,  costs,  etc.,  come,  and  the  poor  man 
is  entirely  broken  up.  The  only  thing  valuable  he  has  is 
the  "  experience,"  the  knowledge  gained  that  his  silver 
coin  is  not  money!  it  will  not  pay  his  debts,  although  for 
ten  or  twenty  years  his  government  has  called  it  money, 
and  taught  him  to  believe  it  was  money,  and  would  pay 
his  debts ! 

Of  course,  in  the  illustration  given  the  law  would  afford 
to  him  who  sold  the  land,  built  the  house  or  sold  the  fur- 
niture other  remedies  than  suits  for  damages  ;  for  instance, 
treating  the  transactions  as  sales  and  permitting  actions 
for  the  price,  and  on  the  rendition  of  judgment  putting 
up  all  the  poor  man's  property,  including  his  dimes,  quar- 
ters and  halves  to  sale  by  public  auction  to  make  the 
amount  in  gold  coin,  the  tender,  the  legal  money,  the  only 
15 


226  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Deception. 

Ten   per 
cent. 


real  money.    But  whatever  the  remedy,  the  destruction  to 
the  poor  man  would  be  equally  complete. 

Thus  it  is  clearly  seen  that  the  extent  to  which  the 
"fractional  silver"  coin  —  that  is,  the  silver  coin  under  the 
Too  small,  denomination  of  one  dollar  —  is  money,  is  so  small  that  it 
amounts  to  nothing,  except  in  the  transaction  of  the  poor 
people  under  the  amount  of  ten  dollars.  But  what  does 
the  Gold  Solomon  care  for  those  people !  Let  the  rich 
have  money,  real  money,  tender,  that  thing  that  pays 
debts,  say  they ;  but  the  poor  must  get  on  with  demon- 
etized money  —  money  that  is  money  in  name  only,  not 
classes  in  fact  and  effect.     This  thing  is  wrong;  the  money  of 

equal*  as  toone  class  should  be  just  as  good  as  the  money  of  any 
other  class.  The  "  fractional  silver  "  coin  should  not  be 
called  money ;  it  is  a  deception  so  to  call  it.  If  we  call  ten 
per  cent  of  the  amount  of  silver  coin  in  circulation  money, 
it  is  the  fullest  extent  to  which  it  is  money ;  but  as  stated 
above,  it  is  not  that  much. 
congress  The  Congress  has  the  right  under  the  Constitution  to 

tokens,  but  coin  money,  not  to  coin  tokens.  No  such  right  as  the 
latter  is  granted  to  it ;  and  without  a  grant  it  has  no  power 
of  any  kind. 

i,     "  What  is  a  token?  "    The  answer  may  be  found  in  the 
Standard  Dictionary,  page  1898,  as  follows:  — 

"A  metal  tablet,  resembling  a  coin,  formerly  issued  in 
England  by  tradesmen  and  others,  as  evidence  of  an 
amount  due,  as  stated  thereon,  by  the  issuer  to  the  holder." 
The  word  "  token  "  comes  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  word 
tacen,  meaning  a  sign.  There  may  be  tokens  of  many 
things,  yea,  perhaps,  of  anything;  as  a  "token  of  love,"  a 
"  token  of  respect,"  a  "  token  of  a  covenant,"  etc.  As 
in  any  case  in  which  there  may  be  a  thing  and  a  sign  of 
that  thing,  so  there  may  be  the  thing  and  the  token  of  that 
thing.    Thus  money,  the  thing  signed,  signified,  tokened, 


•'  What    is 
token." 


Thing    and 
sign. 

Token   and 
sign. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    227 

and  the  sign  or  token  that  signifies  it,  tokens  it.  The  Con- 
gress is  granted  the  power  to  coin  money,  the  thing ;  but 
no  power  to  coin  the  sign,  the  token  of  that  thing.  If 
the  Congress  coins  gold  or  silver  coins,  those  coins  are 
money;  and  neither  the  Congress,  the  State  nor  the  in- 
dividual person  or  man  has  the  right  to  demonetize  them  ! 
Once  more,  please,  think  of  demonetized  money,  un- 
moneyed  money! 

Even  if  the  Congress  had  such  power,  and  most  clearly 
it  has  not,  it  would  be  wicked  to  use  it,  as  it  has  attempted  a  wrong, 
to  do,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  the  great  mass  of 
the  people  believe  that  the  thing  thus  coined  was  money, 
thus  creating  in  them  the  belief  that  these  things  so  coined 
went  into,  made  a  part  of,  and  swelled  the  measure  of 
value  to  that  extent.  If  the  Congress  had  the  power  "  to 
coin  "  tokens,  they  should  go  under  the  name  of  tokens ; 
let  them  not  be  claimed  to  be  money.  Shams  and  frauds  a  •«  legal " 
and  cheats  should  not  be  stamped  with  the  sign,  the 
"  token,"  of  legality. 

When  the  director  of  the  mint  compiles  his  statistics,  Director  of 
showing  the  amount  of  money  in  circulation,  he  puts  in 
the  "  fractional  silver  "  coins  to  their  full  nominal  or  face 
value,  dime  for  dime,  quarter  for  quarter  and  half-dollar 
for  half-dollar,  and  calls  the  whole  amount  so  much  added 
to  the  money  in  circulation.  The  statisticians  follow  him, 
and  the  deceived  people,  although  "  sovereign,"  believe 
both  and  suffer  for  their  credulity. 

Clearly  the  "  fractional  silver  "  should  not  be  set  down 
by  director  of  the  mint,  statistician  or  honest  man  as  a 
part  of  the  money  in  circulation,  because  it  is  not  a  part 
of  it. 

The  Silver  Dollar. —  Let  us  pass  on  now  to  the 
"  silver  dollar,"  the  "  standard  dollar."  How  many  times 
have  Gold  Solomons,  Spellbinders  and  others  proclaimed 


228 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Silver     dollar  full 
not  a  tender.  . 


Crushing 


'  from  the  housetops  "  that  the  "  standard  dollar  "  was 
legal  tender  "  for  any  amount !  Yea,  with  sorrow 
it  is  stated  that  even  "  silver  men  "  have  also  fallen  into 
this  error !  Scores  and  hundreds  of  times  in  oral  argu- 
ments on  this  subject  with  Gold  Solomons,  Spellbinders 
and  even  silver  men  has  the  author,  in  their  opinion,  been 
crushed  thus : — 

Gold  Solomon,  Spellbinder  or  Silver  Man. — 
"  Well,  I  know  the  *  standard  dollar  '  in  silver  is  '  legal 
tender  '  for  any  amount.  I  do  not  mean  the  '  trade  dollar, ' 
but  the  '  standard  dollar !  '  Here  would  follow  large  dis- 
course, showing  the  difference  between  them ;  to  wit,  the 
"  trade  dollar  "  was  coined  for  the  Oriental  trade,  etc., 
etc.  When  that  discourse  would  be  ended,  then  the  author 
would  say,  "Well,  I  know  the  'standard  dollar' — I  do 
not  mean  the  '  trade  dollar  ' —  is  not  full  tender  for  '  any 
amount,'  even  the  smallest  amount,  although  you  meant 
by  '  any  amount '  the  largest  amount.  So  both  of  us 
knowing  the  same  thing  in  opposite  ways,  one  of  us  has 
to  be  wrong !  Such  knowledge  is  like  unto  much  other 
so-called  knowledge  passing  current  these  days,  it  lacks 
an  essential  ingredient  of  knowledge ;  that  is,  it  is  not 
true."  Every  speaker  whom  the  author  has  ever  heard 
speak  on  the  point  admitted  the  "  standard  dollar  "  to  be 
;'  legal  tender  "  for  any  amount.  The  "  silver  "  news- 
papers do  the  same,  even  at  this  time,  as  do  also  the  speak- 
ers ;  that  is,  in  the  "  campaign  "  of  1902.  Right  here  in 
Carson,  the  author  had  to  look  up  the  statute  passed  by 
the  Congress  and  show  it  to  "  silver  "  men  even,  showing 
that  the  "standard  dollar"  (silver)  is  "legal  tender" 
for  any  amount  unless  otherwise  expressed  in  the  con- 
tract. Unless  otherwise  expressed  in  the  contract !  and 
that  makes  it  tender  not  at  ail.  Think  of  a  tender  that  the 
the  contract,  person  to  whom  it  is  lendered  has  the  right,  the  legal 


Tender    un- 
less   other- 
wise   ex- 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    229 

right,  to  reject!  Such  a  thing  is  no  tender;  it  is  mere  Tender  de- 
"  token,"  like  unto  the  "  fractional  silver  "  coin.  Indeed,  <',,ned! 
it  is  not  so  good  ;  for  the  "  fractional  silver  "  coin  is  tender 
under  even  the  unconstitutional  congressional  enactment 
to  the  extent  of  ten  dollars  on  any  one  contract,  although 
Professor  Laughlin,  in  his  work  referred  to  in  a  previous 
part  of  this  work,  says  the  "fractional  silver"  coin  is 
tender  only  to  the  extent  of  five  dollars  on  any  one  con- 
tract.    This  mistake  is  constantlv  made  by  writers   and  Grange 

error. 

speakers  who  are  for  the  "  gold  standard,"  and  those  who 
are  for  silver  and  the  gold  and  silver  standard.  The  cir- 
cumstance is  mentioned  here  to  show  how  little  are  the 
statements  of  writers  and  speakers  on  the  "  money  ques- 
tion "  to  be  relied  upon.  Sometimes  one  is  tempted  to 
think   that   the   people   are   wise   not    "  to   uncover   their  "  incover 

ears." 

ears  "    during    a    political    campaign,    so    gross    is    the 
ignorance  as  to  the  most  ordinary  facts,  as  well  as  to  the 
most   obvious    reasoning   on   the   topics   discussed.      The 
millionaires  plan  their  campaign  —  instruct  their  "  small  Mniionahe 
beer "    orators,    Spellbinders,    what    to    say,    and    those  orator. 
Spellbinders    draw    out    their    campaign    text-books    and  "Campaign 

.         r   .  ....  ,  ...        text-books." 

state  the  false  and  mischievous  contents  thereof  with- 
out a  blush.  Indeed  they  have  far  less  belief  in  the 
truth  of  the  ten  commandments  and  the  sermon  on  the 
mount  than  they  do  in  those  same  "campaign  text- 
books; "  and  their  enthusiasm  for  the  latter  is  a  thousand 
times  greater  than  it  is  for  the  former.  The  author  has 
on  occasion  in  conversation,  even  while  riding  in  the  rail- 
way trains,  been  compelled  to  meet  with  a  smile  the  draw- 
ing out  of  the  campaign  text-book  by  the  Spellbinder 
who  was  boasting  of  his  achievements  in  the  campaign 
that  had  just  then  closed. 

But   again   to  the   "  silver   dollar  "   that   is   full     '  legal 
tender"  for  any  amount  however  large  unless  otherwise 


230  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

expressed  in  the  contract,  and  if  otherwise  expressed  in 
the  contract  not  "  legal  tender  "   for  any  amount,  how- 
Dictation   of  ever  small !     In  other  words,  the  creditor  can  dictate  to 

("i*t*ilit  01*  ■ 

the  whole  people  of  the  United  States  what  shall  be  tender 
in   his   contracts!     What  an   absurdity   and   wrong  that 
would  be,  even  if  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States 
had  not  fixed  the  tender  in  the  Constitution!  and  with 
that  fixing,   it  is  unbounded  and  unblushing  impudence 
creditor  en-  in  the  creditor  to  claim  such  a  power,  an  attribute  of  sov- 
the  highest    ereignty !    No  wonder  that  the  government  of  the  United 
'sovereignty.  States  has  so  rapidly  degenerated  into  a  plutocracy,  that  is, 
a  government  by  plutos,  the  Greek  word  for  wealth,  when 
a  usurping  Congress  by  congressional  enactment  endows 
the  individual  creditor  and  the  whole  creditor  class  with 
an  attribute  of  sovereignty,  and  thereby  legislates  the  in- 
dividual debtor  and  the  whole  debtor  class  out  of  their 
Debtor  birthright  of  liberty  and  government  by  law,  and  legis- 

!ntoSlaShwery.lates  them  into  slavery  and  government  by  the  whim  and 
wish  and  avarice  of  the  creditor. 

Such  "  legal  tender  "  is  well  expressed  by  a  more  for- 
cible than  elegant  phrase  much  used  nowadays,  to  wit, 
"  i^gai  "  legal  tender  "  "  with  a  string  to  it."     A  gift  made  in 

"with' string  such  a  way  that  the  giver  has  the  power  to  resume  the 
thing  given  at  his  pleasure,  is  a  gift  "  with  a  string  to  it," 
presumably  to  pull  it  back  with.  So  a  "  legal  tender  "  that 
is  "  les-al  tender  "  which  can  be  otherwise  expressed  in  the 
-sinning  contract,  is  a  "  legal  tender  "  with  a  "  cart  rope  "  attached 
IV  ear*"with  which  to  draw  it  out  of  the  "legal  tender"  class. 
The  Bible  speaks  of  those  who  "sin  as  it  were  with  a 
cart  rope."    This  must  be  it ! 

"  Woe  unto  them  that  draw  iniquity  with  cords  of  van- 
ity, and  sin  as  it  were  with  a  cart  rope."     Isaiah  5: 18. 

This   unless-otherwise-expressed-in-the-contract    '  legal 
tender  "    is,   like  the   "  legal   tender  "   of   the    "  fractional 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    231 

silver  "  to  the  amount  of  only  ten  dollars  in  any  one  con- 
tract, merely  a  legislative  trap  enacted  to  catch  the  poor  Legislative 
and  the  unwary.  The  larger  transactions  of  the  wealthy, 
the  contracts  for  the  hundreds,  the  thousands  and  the  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  are  worthy  in  importance  of  the  trouble  of 
being-  put  into  writing-,  and  such  contracts  almost  inva-  The  large 

P  c,  .,    contracts 

riably  read  "  payable  in  gold  coin  of  the  United  States      payable  in 

- r    J  °  t  the    true 

with  high  "  interest  payable  in  like  gold  coin."    The  gold  tender, 
coin  is  the  tender,  the  real  money.     The  smaller  transac-  The   smaller 

contracts 

tions  of  the  poor,  the  "  dime,"  the  "  quarter-dollar,"  the  payable  in 

r  tender     with 

"half-dollar"  and  the  "dollar"  contracts,  are  rather  too  a  "cart 

rope." 

small  in  their  importance  to  be  worthy  of  the  trouble  and 
expense  of  having  them  reduced  to  writing  —  especially 
in  the  numerous  cases  of  those  unskilled  in  the  art  of 
drawing  up  contracts.  All  such  contracts  are,  by  the  un- 
constitutional congressional  enactment,  made  payable  in 
the  "  legal  tender  "  with  a  "  string  to  it  " — the  cart  rope 
"  legal  tender."  If  such  "  legal  tender  "  be  by  the  poor 
man  received  in  the  "  silver  dollar  "  pieces,  the  "  stan- 
dard dollar  "  pieces,  he  finds  he  can  pay  nothing  with 
them !  If  in  "  fractional  silver,"  then  only  to  the  amount 
of  ten  dollars,  unless  the  creditor  be  willing  to  receive  them 
in  payment  for  a  larger  sum ;  though  this  poor  man  re- 
ceiving "  fractional  silver "  in  payment  can,  under  the 
said  enactment,  compel  his  poor  friend  to  whom  he  owes 
ten  dollars  or  less  to  receive  the  entire  claim  in  such  silver 

coin.     This  is  discriminating  against  those  least  able  to  Discrim- 
inates 
bear  it,  the  poor.  against  the 

Again,  these  enactments  work  a  hardship  on  the  honest, 
straightforward  but  unwary  man.  He,  knowing  himself  Trap  for  the 
to  be  honest  and  fair,  treats  others  as  if  they  were  so,  too, 
and  generally  makes  his  contracts  for  payment  in  "  dol- 
lars," not  dreaming  that  certain  kinds  of  "  dollars  "  would 
be  less  valuable  to  him.    This  he  does  not  find  out  until  he 


232  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Govern- 
ment   by   the 
dollar: 
plutocracy. 


Confession. 


offers   those   "  dollars "   on   his    contracts   to  pay   "  gold 
coin,"  and  then  he  finds  them  rejected. 

These  are  legislative  traps  for  the  honest  and  the  un- 
wary ;  and  they  have  rapidly  caused  the  democratic  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  to  degenerate  into  a  pluto- 
cratic government,  a  government  by  the  "  almighty  dol- 
lar," which  it  has  been  said  the  Americans  worship. 

The  author  has   frequently  heard   "  silver  men  "   ridi- 
culed by  the  Gold  Solomons  for  desiring  their  own  debts 
to  be  paid  to  them  in  "  gold  coin  "  and  having  their  con- 
tracts  for  payments  to  them  to  read  "  payable  in  gold 
charge  coin  of  the  United  States."    The  charge  was  (1)  that  such 

Ver  men  in- conduct  was  inconsistent  with  the  professions  of  the  silver 
men  ;  that  they  wanted  pay  to  themselves  in"  gold  coin,  but 
to  have  the  privilege  of  paying  to  others  in  silver  coin ; 
and  (2)  that  it  was  a  practical  confession  on  the  part  of 
the  "  silver  men  "  that  the  "  gold  coin  "  was  the  better 
money.  Profound  wisdom  and  honest  argument !  Un- 
worthy as  it  is  of  notice,  it  must  be  taken  up,  lest  the  self- 
complacent  Gold  Solomon  should  proclaim  his  victory  on 
this  point ! 

(1)  Why  should  the  "  silver  man  "  any  more  than  the 
Gold  Solomon  be  willing  to  receive  in  payment  a  "  dol- 
lar "  with  which  he  could  not  pay  his  debt  to  the  Gold 
Solomon !  It  makes  no  difference  in  this  case  that  the  so- 
called  law  under  which  the  situation  is  brought  about  is 
unconstitutional ;  the  strong  hand  of  power,  upholding 
oppression,  has  maintained  it  for  thirty  years,  and  until 
overthrown  by  legislative  repeal  or  judicial  decision  or 
by  both,  the  "  silver  man  "  is  bound  to  yield  to  it,  or  be 
utterly  destroyed.  There  is  no  inconsistency  in  it ;  it  is 
simply  yielding  to  a  usurpation  and  a  tyranny  that  he 
is  unable  to  resist. 

(2)  How  does  it  admit  that  "  gold  coin  "  is  the  better 
money  ? 


Yielding    to 
compul- 
sion. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    233 

Under  a  scientific  and  constitutional  monetary  system, 

"gold  coin"  would  be  no  better  than  "  silver  coin"  and 

"  silver  coin  "  no  better  than  "  gold  coin ;  "  the  two  kinds 

of  coins  would  simply  be  equal.     But  under  the  unsci-  >o  confes- 
sion,   hut    a 
entific  and  unconstitutional  system  forced  upon  the  people  protest. 

by  a  usurping  Congress,  the  "  gold  coin  "  is,  of  course, 

the  better  money.     Indeed,  under  said  system  the  "  gold 

coin  "  is  the  only  money;  and  honest  and  fair  expression 

in  the  congressional  enactment  and  in  the  speeches  and 

writings   on  the   subject   would   so   call   it,   not   call   the 

"  silver  coins  "  money,  to  entrap  the  poor  and  the  unwary. 

There  is  no  shadow  of  inconsistency  or  any  damaging  Tricky  ar- 
admission  in  the  mode  of  conduct  of  the  "  silver  men." 
It  is  perfectly  natural,  reasonable,  fair  and  honest ;  and  it 
is  certainly  unfair,  a  sophistical  and  tricky  argument,  so 
to  charge  them. 

It  thus  clearly  appears  that  neither  the  "  silver  dollar  " 
(the  "standard  dollar")  nor  the  "fractional  silver"  is 
money,  tender.  The  small  amount  of  the  finality  of 
money,  or  tender,  that  is  in  them,  is  too  insignificant  to 
be  of  any  real  value.  The  value  of  it  is  zero,  and  its  zero. 
presence  in  the  statute  only  misleads  and  works  mis- 
chief. 

When  the  director  of  the  United  States  mint,  the 
Spellbinder,  the  statisticians,  the  newspapers  and  even 
the   "silver    men"    loudly    proclaim    that   there    are    six  Appalling 

1  ^    misstate- 

hundred  millions  (600,000,000)  of  full  '''  legal  tender  "  ment. 
"  silver  dollars  "  in  circulation  in  the  United  States,  the 
magnitude  of  the  falsehood  and  mischief  is  appalling! 
And  when  they  say  that  there  are  fifty  millions  (50,000,- 
000)  of  fractional  silver  money  in  circulation  in  the 
United  States,  the  magnitude  of  the  falsehood  of  that  ut- 
terance, too,  is  appalling!     Practically  there  is  no  silver  No  silver 

11  ,  .       money:    all 

money  at  all  now  in  the  United  States;  the  silver  coin  token. 


234  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Battle  of 
truth  and 
error. 


Plausible 
error    and 
unpalatable 
truth. 

Even    bat- 
tling   for 
truth    is 
more    inspir- 
ing. 


Right   and 
might. 


Wise    prayer, 


is  all  "  token,  "  not  money.  In  estimating  the  amount 
of  money  in  circulation  in  the  United  States,  all  of  the 
silver  coins,  whether  the  dollar  or  the  fractional,  should 
be  thrown  out  and  disregarded.  When  the  law,  the  Con- 
stitution, that  makes  them  money,  and  the  only  money, 
is  enforced,  then  those  coins  should  be  counted  as  money 
in  circulation  in  the  United  States,  and  not  until  then. 

How  difficult  is  truth's  battle  with  error !  But  we  must 
not  despair.  The  search  of  the  good  of  the  world  is 
for  truth,  and  their  battle  is  for  the  victory  of  truth 
over  error ;  and  the  search  of  the  bad  of  the  world  is 
for  plausible  error,  and  their  battle  is  for  the  victory 
of  plausible  error  over  unpalatable  truth.  How  glorious 
is  even  the  unsuccessful  battle  for  truth !  and  the  suc- 
cessful battle  for  it  is  not  more  glorious,  but  sometimes 
and  with  some  persons  more  inspiring ;  while  the  battle 
for  plausible  error,  successful  or  unsuccessful,  neither 
improves  nor  exalts  the  human  soul :  it  is  mere  power 
divorced  from  right ,  and  that  is  the  characteristic  of 
vSatan  and  his  fallen  demons.  Each  victory  in  it  is  worse 
for  the  victor  even  than  would  be  defeat.  If  would 
seem  wise  to  pray,  "  O  God,  defeat  me  in  my  battle  for 
plausible  error !  '  and  that  too  whether  that  battle  be 
religious,  political  or  economic. 

Bird's-eye  View. —  It  may  be  of  service  to  take  a 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  three  clauses  of  the  Constitution 
under  which  has  been  claimed  for  the  Congress  the 
power  to  declare  tender  :  — 

i.  First,  the  clause  of  limitation  of  power  in  the  States, 
to  wit,  "  No  State  shall  make  anything  but  gold  and 
silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts."  This,  instead 
of  granting  the  power  of  declaring  tender  to  the  Congress, 
by  crushing,  overwhelming  implication,  as  has  been  seen, 
prevents  said  power  from  going  there.     In  the  light  of 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    235 

it,  nothing  but  the  most  positive  and  clear  express  grant 
of  the  power  to  the  Congress  could  avail ; 

2.  Second,  the  clause  granting  to  die  Congress  the 
"  power  to  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United 
States."  As  has  been  shown,  if  this  clause  grants  the 
said  power,  then  the  Congress  is  omnipotent ;  constitu- 
tional government  in  America  has  passed  away  and  con- 
gressional tyranny  reigns  in  its  stead ;    and  — 

3.  Third,  the  clause  granting  to  the  Congress  the 
"  power  to  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof  and  of 
foreign  coin." 

This  clause  has  been  shown  not  to  have  even  a  tendency 
to  grant,  imply  or  include  the  power  to  declare  tender. 

In  the  first  clause  above  mentioned,  to  wit,  "  No  State 
shall  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender 
in  payments  of  debts,"  is  fixed  what  shall  be  the  money 
of  the  country,  gold  and  silver  coins ;  for  money  is 
tender  and  tender  is  money,  and  a  mere  token  is  neither 
money  nor  tender.  In  the  third  clause  above  mentioned, 
the  coining  clause,  is  fixed  the  power  to  make  those  coins. 
That  power  is  fixed  in  the  Congress,  and  properly  so ;  coinage 
for  they  should  be  fixed  for  the  whole  people  of  the  congress. 
United  States,  and  no  single  State  has  the  power  to 
do  that.  The  two  clauses  together  determine  all  the 
power  over  the  money  question,  the  first  clause  declaring  The  two 

•    1       r       1  ■    1  1111  1  11    causes    fix- 

the  material  of  which  money  should  be  made,  to  wit,  gold  ing  money. 
and  silver,   and   the   second   clause   declaring  how   those 
two  materials  should  be  made  into  the  coins  that  alone 
should  be  money. 

Here  is  the  full  answer  to  the  question  that  heads 
Part  II  of  this  work,  to  wit :  — 


236  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Question 
stated. 


Question 
answered. 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States? 

The  answer  is  as  follows  :  — 

Gold  and  silver  coins,  coined  and  regnlated  in  value 
by  the  Congress,  are  the  money  of  the  United  States. 

These,  and  nothing  but  these,  are  money  in  the  United 
States. 

No  Oversight. —  In  framing  the  above-given  defini- 
tion of  money  in  the  United  States,  sight  has  not  been 
lost  of  the  power  of  the  Congress  over  foreign  coin. 
The  question  proposed  is,  What  is  money  in  the 
United  States  now  ?  not,  What  was  money  in  the  United 
States  at  any  time  in  the  past?  neither  was  it,  What  may 
be  money  at  any  time  in  the  future?  but  simply,  What 
is  money  now  ? 

Of  course,  the  Congress,  as  has  been  shown,  did  in 
status  of  times  past  "  regulate  the  value  "  of  some  foreign  coins, 
now.  and  thereby  make  them  money  in  the  United  States ;  but 

the  laws  —  those  were  laws,  not  simply  usurpative  enact- 
ments by  the  Congress  —  have  been  repealed.  And  al- 
though at  times  such  coins  have  been  money,  they  are 
not  money  now. 

The  Congress  may  at  some  future  time  or  times  "  regu- 
late the  value  "  of  some  foreign  coins  and  thus  make  them 
a  part  of  the  money  of  this  country :  and  when  it  shall 
have  done  so,  then  those  coins  also  will  constitute  a  part 
of  the  money  of  the  country  ;  but  they  are  not  such  now. 

An  Incident. —  In  a  conversation  with  a  number  of 
gentlemen  of  the  bar,  among  them  being  one  whose 
superior  in  reputation  and  ability  does  not  exist  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  if  in  the  whole  country,  the  author  put  to 
him  the  question,  "  What  clause  of  the  Constitution 
grants  or  implies  the  grant  of  the  power  in  the  Congress 
to   declare   the   greenback   or   anything   else   a   tender  ? " 


What  is  Money  in  the  United  States?    237 

He,  after  a  few  moments'  reflection,  replied :  "  The  Con- 
stitution gives  Congress  the  power  to  coin  money  and 
declare  its  value."  The  author  said,  "No;  that  power 
is  not  given,  I  think."  He  said,  "  O,  1  know  that  that  is 
the  case."  The  author  said,  "  Allow  me  to  state,  as  I 
feel  sure  that  I  can,  the  exact  language  of  the  Constitu- 
tion on  that  subject  and  then  let  us  examine  it.  The 
exact  language  is :  '  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to 
coin  money,  and  regulate  [not  declare]  the  value  thereof 
and  of  foreign  coin.'  '  The  gentleman,  in  stating  his 
view  that  the  coining  clause  gave  the  power  to  the  Con- 
gress to  declare  tender,  was  interrupted  by  another  very 
earnest  and  able  lawyer  present,  a  strong  "  gold  stan- 
dard "  man,  with  the  remark,  "That  could  not  be;  you 
cannot  coin  paper."  That  remark  anticipated  what  the 
author  intended  saying.  It  is  stated  here  to  show  that 
the  vagueness  on  this  subject  exists  in  the  highest  places.  Vagueness 
not  only  in  official  stations  but  intellectual  stations  also. 
To  coin  paper  would  be  language  entirely  unfitting  and 
improper  in  any  serious  utterance,  oral  or  written.  Metals 
are  coined ;  paper  is  printed.  Gold  and  silver  are  the  "  coin 
only  metals  authorized  by  the  Constitution  to  be  coined 
for  the  purpose  of  money,  and  those  alone  can  be  legally 
so  coined.  Paper  can  neither  be  so  "  coined "  nor  so 
printed.  Paper  cannot  be  money  in  the  United  States 
until  the  Constitution  is  changed  or  destroyed.  God 
forbid  that  the  latter  may  ever  be  done ! 

So  far  as  the  logical,  legal  and  constitutional  proof  and 
demonstration  of  the  question  proposed  for  discussion  in  Might  end 

1   •  1  1      •  •     ,  ,.  .    .  .  discussion. 

this  work  are  concerned,  it  might  well  end  here,  for  the 
proof  and  the  demonstration  are  clear  and  irrefragable 
that  under  the  said  Constitution,  as  well  as  under  the 
general  scientific  definition,  money  is  tender,  and  only 
tender  is  money.     The  Constitution  fixes  the  tender  of 


238  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  country,  and  therefore  the  Constitution  fixes  the 
money  of  the  country.  It  fixes  the  said  tender  in  gold 
and  silver  coin,  therefore  it  fixes  the  money  of  the  country 
in  gold  and  silver  coin.  Quod  est  demonstrandum 
[which  was  the  thing  to  be  demonstrated]. 


PART   III      . 

Views  Supplementary  and   Corroborative 
and   General 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Anticipatory  Objection. 

CONTEMPORANEOUS  INTERPRETATION. The  legal 
maxim,  "  A  contemporaneous  interpretation  of  the 
statute  avails  much  in  law,"  may  probably  be 
invoked  on  this  question  ;  and  as  the  Congress  at  a  very 
early  period  in  the  history  of  the  government,  to  wit, 
1792,  passed  a  statute  declaring  what  should  be  tender  statute  of 
in  the  United  States,  the  said  law  should  have  great 
weight  as  a  contemporaneous  interpretation  of  the  Fed- 
eral   Constitution    on    this    subject.      The    argumentative  Force  of 

,    maxim    in 

force  of  the  maxim  in  general  is  cheerfully  admitted,  and  general. 
also  its  legitimate  force  in  this  particular  question  ;  but  it  is 
denied  that  it  was  ever  conclusive,  and  in  the  case  under 
discussion  affirmed  that  the  force  of  the  maxim  is  reduced  minimum 

here. 

to  a  minimum. 

First :    As  to  the  maxim  not  being  conclusive,  numer-  Never  con- 

,  elusive. 

ous  instances  could  be  cited  from  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Reference  however  will  be  made 
to  but  one,  the  "  income  tax  "  case.  There  contempora-  income  tax 
neous  interpretations  by  both  the  Congress  and  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  were  in  a  recent  case 
held  insufficient  to  sustain  the  law  ;  notwithstanding  both, 
the  recent  income  tax  law  was  overthrown,  thus  show- 
ing conclusively  that  in  the  judgment  of  the  tribunal  to 
which  we  have  to  make  final  appeal,  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  contemporaneous  interpretations, 
though  they  may  indeed  avail  much,  yet  are  not  con- 
clusive. 

16  241 


242  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


No  contem- 
poraneous 
interpreta- 
tion. 


No    usurpa- 
tion  in   1792. 


Mere    induce 

nnnl. 


Suppositi- 
tious case. 


Functions 
of   courts. 


Second :  In  the  case  under  consideration  there  is  in 
truth  no  contemporaneous  interpretation  by  either  the 
Congress  or  the  Supreme  Court.  The  question  has  never 
in  any  manner  come  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  and  consequently  there  is  no  interpretation, 
contemporaneous  or  otherwise,  by  that  tribunal.  There 
is  no  interpretation  by  the  Congress  that  could  have 
been  tested  until  A.  D.  1873,  for  the  law  of  1792  said 
just  what  the  Constitution  itself  said,  to  wit,  gold  and 
silver  coin  shall  be  tender.  There  was  in  that  no  usurpa- 
tion of  power  by  the  Congress,  only  a  statement  of  the 
constitutional  provision  by  way  of  inducement  as  pre- 
paratory to  enacting  a  coinage  law. 

Suppose  Mr.  ,  a  plaintiff  in  an  imaginary  pro- 
ceeding, had  lived  in  1793,  and  believed  that  the  Con- 
gress had  no  power  over  tender,  and  wished  to  test  the 
question ;  he  had  no  means  of  doing  so.  Had  he  brought 
suit  and  alleged  that  the  Congress  had  usurped  power 
over  tender,  not  authorized  by  its  warrant  of  authority, 
to  wit,  the  Federal  Constitution,  he  would  have  been 
answered  by  the  court  thus  :  — 

"  You,   Mr.   ,   are   not  hurt ;   you   have   no   cause 

of  action.  You  say  the  Federal  Constitution  makes  gold 
and  silver  coin  tender.  The  Congress  also  says  gold 
and  silver  coin  are  tender.  Thus  you  have  already  pre- 
cisely what  you  want,  and  precisely  what  you  demand, 
gold  coin  and  silver  coin  tender,  money.  This  court 
does  not  sit  to  try  imaginary  questions ;  it  sits  to  try 
cases  in  which  rights  are  denied  and  wrongs  are  com- 
mitted. It  enforces  rights  and  redresses  wrongs; 
it  does  not  attempt  to  aid  persons  who  are  uninjured. 
Its  function  is  not  to  solve  problems,  but  to  settle 
rights.     Your  case  is  dismissed." 

But   since   1873   rights  have  been   denied  and  wrongs 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    243 

innumerable  committed.  Thousands  of  persons  have 
been  denied  their  constitutional  rights  of  paving-  their 
debts  and  discharging-  their  obligations  in  silver  coin, 
a  right  guaranteed  to  them  in  the  Constitution  of  the 
United    States.      Since   that    date,    1873,    and   that    date  Testable 

,,..,..  .  .       since   1873 

alone,  the  courts  have  had  jurisdiction  to  give  a  remedy  only. 
for  those  wrongs. 

Considering  how  startling  the  notion  of  the  silver  de- 
monetization was,  and  the  history  of  the  times  since  then, 
it  is  submitted  that  the  nearly  three  decades  of  protest-  protesting 

....  .  .  .  ,  1  submission. 

ing  submission,  but  not  acquiescence  therein,  should  not 
be  regarded  as  even  in  the  nature  of  a  contemporaneous 
interpretation. 

Money  in  What  Sense  Common  Measure  of 
Value. —  The  assertion  that  money  is  the  common 
measure  of  values,  the  common  denominator  of  all  values, 
as  many  put  it,  is  true  when  properly  understood ;  but 
it  is  not  true  as  our  friends,  the  "  gold  standard  "  men, 
would  have  us  understand  it,  that  is,  as  a  mere  yardstick,  Yardstick, 

etc. 

a  mere  gallon  measure,  a  mere  pound  weight.  It  is  this 
and  more ;  they  have  no  value  by  reason  of  their  being 
yardstick,  gallon  measure  or  pound  weight,  except  indeed 
a  few  cents,  or  may  be  a  few  dollars,  as  a  pocketknife, 
pen  or  other  tool  or  implement  has  value.  On  the  con- 
trary the  thing  that  is  money,  tender,  gets  value,  and  Tender 
indeed  immense  value,  simply  by  being  money,  "legal  value. 
tender."     In  truth,   take  anv  valueless   thing  even,   and  a  valueless 

.,    tbiug. 

legislate  the  money  function  into  it,  the  "  legal  tender 
function,  the  debt  and  obligation  discharging  function,— 
and  it  is  by  legislation  only  that  anything  valuable  or 
valueless  can  get  the  money  function,  "  legal  tender " 
function,  the  debt  and  obligation  discharging  function, — 
and  that  valueless  thing  immediately  gets  value  simply 
by  reason  of  having  that  function.     To  say  that  the  thing 


244  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Additional 
value. 


Law  the 
source  of 
power. 


Three    per 
rent. 


Fifty     rents 
silver    legis- 
lated into 
one-hun- 
dred-cent 
dollar. 


that  pays  a  man's  debts,  whether  the  creditor  is  willing 
or  unwilling  that  it  should  pay  them,  gets  no  value  if 
previously  valueless,  or  no  additional  value  if  previously 
valuable,  by  reason  of  this  power,  this  function  of  paying, 
is,  with  all  due  respect,  absurd.  To  say  that  the  thing 
that  discharges  a  man's  obligation  generally,  whether  the 
obligee  is  willing  or  unwilling  that  it  should  discharge 
it,  gets  no  value  if  previously  valueless,  or  additional 
value  if  previously  valuable,  is  likewise  absurd.  And 
remember,  nothing,  whether  valuable  or  valueless,  can 
discharge  an  obligation,  the  obligee  being  unwilling  that 
it  should  do  it,  unless  that  thing  gets  that  power,  that 
function,  by  legislation ;  the  law  and  the  law  only  can 
do  that. 

Therefore  to  say,  as  do  the  "  gold  standard "  men, 
that  gold  gets  no  additional  value  by  reason  of  having 
the  money  function,  the  "  legal  tender  "  function,  the 
debt  and  obligation  discharging  function,  legislated  into 
it  alone,  whereas  it  was  formerly  in  gold  and  silver 
jointly,  is  absurd  ;  and  equally  absurd  is  the  statement  so 
often  iterated  and  reiterated  that  silver  fell  in  the  market 
from  natural  causes,  and  not  from  adverse  legislation. 
When  silver  was  demonetized  in  America  in  1873,  it  was 
at  a  premium  of  three  per  cent  over  gold.  They  legis- 
late the  money  function  out  of  silver,  and  then  complain 
that  the  "  silver  men  "  wish  to  have  fifty  cents'  worth  of 
silver  legislated  into  a  one-hundred-cent  dollar!  No,  the 
"  silver  men  "  simply  wish  that  the  money  function  of 
silver,  put  therein  by  the  wise  and  good  and  benevolent 
framers  of  our  Federal  Constitution,  be  not  legislated 
out  of  it  by  the  usurped  power  of  the  Federal  Congress. 
Leave  to  silver  its  constitutional  money  function,  and  the 
"  silver  men  "  are  perfectly  willing  to  let  silver  take  its 
chances  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  with  gold  and  all 
other  articles. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     245 

Money,    real    money,   tender, — "  legal    tender,"    if   yon  Money  the 
prefer, — is   indeed   the   common   measure  of  values,   the  sent'atives 
common    denominator   of   all    values,    getting    its    power  ent,  measure 
so  to  be  from  legislation,  and  from  legislation  alone:  but 
a  representative  of  money,  though  in  the  inaccurate  speech 
of  the  mass  of  mankind  called  money,  is  not  money,  not 
such  measure  of  value  or  common  denominator    whether 
such   representative   be    (1)    silver   coin,    (2)    silver  cer- 
tificates,   (3)    gold   certificates,    (4)    treasury   certificates, 
(5)  national  bank  notes  or  (6)  treasury  notes,  popularly 
called  greenbacks,  as  said  treasury  notes  have  been  treated 
by  every  Federal  administration  since  1873.     Each  Fed- 
eral administration  since  1873  has  treated  the  greenback 
as  a  mere  promise  to  pay  and  not  as  pay. 

The  Source  of  Mischief. —  And  right  here   is  one 
great  source  of  mischief  in  our  present  system.    The  mass  common 
of  mankind  think  that  all  those  six  things  just  enumer- 
ated are,  together  with  the  gold  coin,  money,  the  measure 
of  values,  and  so  act  in  their  business, —  contracts,  pur- 
chases,  etc.      But    the    "  shrewd    financier "    knows    that 
gold  coin  alone  is  money ;  hence,  when  pay-day  comes 
round,  the  common  mass  of  men  can  get  nothing  with 
which  to  pay  their  debts  or  discharge  their  obligations  ; 
the   "  shrewd   financiers  "   have    "  cornered  "    all    of   that  shrewd 
thing.      Therefore    crises,    panics,    financial    cataclysms,      aneieTB- 
come,  and  the  "  shrewd  financiers  "  for  their  "  cornered  " 
gold  get  the  homes  and  other  hard  earnings  of  the  com- 
mon mass  of  men.     The  losers  go  hungry,  starve,  die; 
their  sons  and  daughters  begin  anew  —  labor,  toil,  stint  sons  and 
and  save.     The  "shrewd  financiers"  dole  out  pittances  toiif 
of  gold  on  which  said  sons  and  daughters  can  operate ; 
but    soon    another   panic,    crisis,    cataclysm,    comes,    and 
down  go  the  sons  and  daughters  of  toil  and  up  go  the 
"  shrewd    financiers !  "      This   thing   should    stop.      It    is 


246  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Duty  of         the    duty    of    the    government    to    provide    money,    and 

Govern-  .     . 

ment.  enough  money ;  not  enough  of  deceiving  shams,  repre- 

sentatives of  money.  The  Fathers  wisely  told  us  how 
to  do  it,  and  we  should  follow  in  the  path  of  their 
wisdom. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Authority  of  Great  Names. 

The  Framers  of  the  Constitution. — i.  The  first  in 
the  list  of  great  names  that  will  be  cited  in  support 
of  the  doctrines  hereinbefore  laid  down  will 
be  those  of  the  framers  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
with  that  of  George  Washington,  the  "  father  of  his 
country,"  at  their  head,  although  in  the  Philadelphia 
Convention  there  were  men  his  equal  in  statesmanship, 
political  science  and  finance.  In  this  list  of  great  names, 
let  particular  mention  be  made  of  Madison,  Hamilton, 
Gouverneur  Morris,  Wilson  and  Dr.  Franklin.  The  ex-, 
tract  from  the  debates  of  that  convention  hereinbefore 
made  show  incontestably  that  the  members  of  that  con- 
vention were  very  nearly  unanimous  in  their  opinions 
that  gold  coin  and  silver  coin  should  be  the  only  money 
in  this  country  and  entirely  unanimous  in  the  opinion 
that  they  had  in  the  Constitution  made  them  the  only 
money. 

2.  Thomas  Jefferson. —  The  second  in  the  list  of  the 
great  names  is  that  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  In  section 
5383  on  page  574  of  the  work  of  Mr.  John  P.  Foley, 
entitled  the  "  Jeffersonian  Cyclopedia,"  is  the  follow- 
ing :  — 

'  I  deny  the  power  of  the  general  government  of  mak-  His  denial. 
ing  paper  money,  or  anything  else  a  legal  tender." 

The  author   does   not  know   the   line  of  argument   by  Made  no 
which  Air.  Jefferson  established  his  conclusion.     Indeed, 

247 


248  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Iliad    of 
woes. 


The    great 
expounder    of 

the  consti-    of  the  Constitution." 

tution. 


so  far  as  he  is  aware,  no  argument  was  ever  made  by 
him ;  he  simply  stated  his  conclusion.  It  is  much  to  be 
regretted  that  Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  leave  to  posterity 
his  argument  as  well  as  his  conclusion  on  this  always 
most  interesting,  but  now  most  important  subject.  But 
even  the  conclusion  of  Thomas  Jefferson  on  any  sub- 
ject appertaining  to  the  proper  interpretation  of  our 
Federal  Constitution  is  deemed  of  great  weight,  and  his 
opinion  that  the  Federal  government  has  no  power  to 
declare  tender  or  say  what  thing  or  things  shall  be 
money  is  unequivocal.  Had  he  given  his  argument,  per- 
haps the  Iliad  of  woes  that  have  fallen  upon  the  Amer- 
ican people  since    1873   would  have  been   averted. 

3.  Daniel  Webster. —  The  third  in  the  list  of  great 
names  is  that  of  Daniel  Webster,  the  "  great  expounder 

His  unequivocal  statement  that  the 
Congress  has  no  such  power  will  appear  in  the  next 
division,  to  wit, — 

4.  James  G.  Blaine. —  The  fourth  in  the  list  of  great 
names  is  that  of  James  G.  Blaine.  But  before  quoting 
here  his  utterances  on  this  subject,  will  the  reader  indulge 
a  brief  digression?     It  is  to  inquire, — 

What  Defeated  James  G.  Blaine  for  the  Pres- 
idency in  1880?  —  The  author  frankly  admits  that  he 
cannot  tell,  he  does  not  know  ;  but  he  has  an  opinion. 
That  opinion  is  that  it  was  not  "  rum,  Romanism  and 
rebellion."  That  utterance  of  the  moment  by  what  would 
seem  to  be  a  bigoted  and  fanatical  clergyman,  and  for 
which  Mr.  Blaine  was  not  responsible  —  he  did  not  make 
Too  trivial,  it  or  approve  of  it  —  was  far  too  trivial  a  cause  to  have 
produced  so  tremendous  results !  A  few  voters  may  have 
been  influenced  by  it ;  but  it  is  believed  that  the  people 
of  the  great  city  of  New  York  are  far  too  intelligent  to 
allow    such   a   trivial    occurrence   to    change    well-settled 


"  Rum, 
Romanism 
and 
Rebellion.' 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     249 

previous  convictions.  Then  what  did  cause  that  defeat? 
It  is  believed  the  following  did:  — 

The  Speech  of  James  G.  Blaine  ix  the  Senate  in 
^g. — "  I  believe  gold  and  silver  coin  to  be  the  money 
of  the  Constitution  —  indeed,  the  money  of  the  American 
people  anterior  to  the  Constitution,  money  which  the 
organic  law  of  the  Republic  recognized  as  independent 
of  its  own  existence.     No  power  was  conferred  on  Con-  congress  has 

,  no    power 

srress  to  declare  that  either  metal  should  not  be  money,  over   tender. 

Congress  has  therefore,  in  my  judgment,  no  more  power 

to  demonetize  silver  than  to  demonetize  gold;   no  more 

power    to    demonetize    either    than    to    demonetize    both. 

In  this  statement  I  am  but  repeating  the  weighty  dictum  Weighty 

r  °  °  dictum. 

of  the  first  of  constitutional  lawyers.  '  I  am  certainly 
of  opinion,'  said  Mr.  Webster,  'that  gold  and  silver, 
at  rates  fixed  by  Congress,  constitute  the  legal  standard 
of  value  in  this  country,  and  that  neither  Congress  nor 
any  State  has  authority  to  establish  any  other  standard 
or  to  displace  this  standard.'  Few  persons  can  be  found, 
I  apprehend,  who  will  maintain  that  Congress  possesses 
the  power  to  demonetize  both  gold  and  silver,  or  that 
Congress  could  be  justified  in  prohibiting  the  coinage 
of  both  ;  and  yet  in  logic  and  legal  construction  it  would 
be  difficult  to  show  where  and  why  the  power  of  Con- 
gress over  silver  is  greater  than  over  gold  —  greater 
over  either  than  over  both.  If,  therefore,  silver  has  been 
demonetized,  I  am  in  favor  of  remonetizing  it.  If  its 
coinage  has  been  prohibited,  I  am  in  favor  of  ordering 
it  to  be  resumed.  If  it  has  been  restricted,  I  am  in  favor 
of  ordering  it  to  be  enlarged. 

'  What    power,    then,    has    Congress    over    gold    and  Congress 

•1  1  t       1  1  1        •  ■  1  1         ,,i,s    power 

silver? —  It  has  the  exclusive  power  to  com  them;  the  to  coin  and 

.        .  ....  regulate 

exclusive   power    to    regulate    their    value, —  very    great,  only. 
very  wise,  very  necessary  powers,  for  the  discreet  exer- 


250  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


cise  of  which  a  critical  occasion  has  now  arisen.  How- 
ever men  may  differ  about  causes  and  processes,  all  will 
admit  that  within  a  few  years  a  great  disturbance  has 
taken  place  in  the  relative  values  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
that  silver  is  worth  less  or  gold  is  worth  more  in  the 
money  markets  of  the  world  in  1878  than  in  1873,  when 
the  further  coinage  of  silver  dollars  was  prohibited  in 
this  country." — Taken  from  pages  163,  164  and  163  of 
James  G.  Blaine's  "  Political  Discussions." 

This  extract  shows  that  Daniel  Webster,  as  well  as 
James  G.  Blaine,  thought  as  did  Jefferson  and  the  great 
framers  of  the  Constitution  on  this  subject.  But  it  is 
believed  that  when  the  "plumed  knight"  made  that  ut- 
terance in  his  place  in  the  Senate  in  January,  1878,  that 
terrible  plutocratic  oligarchy  which  has  ruled  this  land  for 
over  a  quarter  of  a  century  sent  forth  its  edict  of  doom 
for  him,  his  political  death, —  and  he  met  it  six  years 
later ! 

5.  John  Randolph  Tucker. —  The  fifth  in  the  list 
of  great  names  is  that  of  John  Randolph  Tucker.  This 
eminent  jurist,  in  section  387,  page  824,  of  his  great 
work  in  two  volumes  entitled  "  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,"  published  in  1899,  says:  — 

"  The  next  provision  is  that  no  State  '  shall  make 
anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment 
of  debts.'  This  is  a  very  important  provision.  Upon  it 
several  points  may  be  made.  Reading  it  with  the  fifth 
clause  of  the  eighth  section  of  the  first  article,  which 
gives  power  to  Congress  '  to  coin  money,  regulate  the 
value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,'  etc..  it  is  obvious  that 
the  power  of  Congress  to  coin  money  enables  it  to  coin 
gold  and  silver  coin  for  the  purpose  of  being  used  as  a 
.Medium  in    medium  in  payment  of  debts.     The  clause   would   then 

payment     of  .      .  ,  _,  ,1,1  1 

debt.  be  as  if  it  read,     ihe  Congress  shall  have  the  power  to 


"  Plumed 
knight." 


Political 
death. 


Important 
provision. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     251 

coin  gold  and  silver  coins,  and  no  Stale  shall  make  any 
but  these  a  tender  in  the  payment  of  debt.'  Second,  taken 
in  connection  with  the  immediately  preceding  clause,  by 
which  the  States  are  prohibited  from  emitting  bills  of 
credit,  it  is  obvious  the  Constitution  contemplated,  as 
the   medium   of   exchange,   gold,  and   silver   coins   struck  Coins  struck 

_  ,.  „  f  .by    Congress. 

by  Congress,  excluding  all  power  of  the  States  to  com 
money  of  their  own  or  to  emit  bills  of  credit.  Third, 
several  of  the  preceding  powers,  as  have  been  seen,  are 
correlated  to  powers  granted  to  the  Congress,  with  which 
the  exercise  of  the  same  by  the  States  would  be  incon- 
sistent. That  is  not  the  case  with  this  clause,  for  there 
is  no  power  given  to  Congress,  nor  a  hint  of  a  power  in  Kb  hint  of 
Congress,  to  make  anything  a  tender  in  the  payment  of 
debts.  Indeed  this  clause  of  prohibition  to  the  States 
indicates  that,  but  for  its  being  inserted  in  the  Constitu- 
tion, it  would  have  been  left  to  the  States,  as  a  reserved 
power  to  make  anything  they  pleased  a  tender  in  pay- 
ment of  debts.  If  there  is  anything  which  is  within  the 
language  of  the  reserved  powers  of  the  States,  it  would 
be  the  regulation  of  the  relations  of  debtor  and  creditor  Regulation 

.  .  .  of    relation 

in  the  private  concerns  of  societv.     It  was  therefore  es-  of  debtor 

•     1        1  1  1     1   •    •  1  r        i         an(1     <'l"«',lit°r- 

sential  that  such  a  prohibition  upon  the  power  of  the 
State  should  be  inserted.  This  prohibition,  therefore, 
gives  no  warrant  for  the  assumption  of  a  power  by  Con- 
gress to  make  anything  a  tender  in  the  payment  of  debts 
except  gold  and  silver  coin.  If  the  power  within  this 
clause  of  prohibition  had  been  clearly  reserved  to  the 
States  without  such  prohibition,  it  would  be  wholly  illog- 
ical to  infer  that  the  prohibition  of  such  a  power  was  to 
be  equivalent  to  a  grant  of  the  prohibited  power  to  the 
United  States.  Under  the  tenth  amendment  of  the  Consti- 
tution the  powers  [not]  delegated  to  the  United  States,  if 
not  prohibited  to  the  States,  are  reserved  by  that  amend- 


252  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

rnwarant-     ment  to  the  States  or  to  the  people.    It  would  be  an  unwar- 
sion.  perver"  ranted  perversion  of  this  article  to  hold  that  the  powers 
not  delegated  to  the  United  States,  but  prohibited  to  the 
States,  are  to  be  regarded,  because  not  reserved  to  the 
States,   as    delegated    to   the    United    States.      It    would 
therefore  seem  to  be  a  sound  interpretation  of  these  kin- 
congress  thedred  clauses  of  the  Constitution,  that  while  Congress  was 
to  be  the  instrument  for  putting  the  stamp  of  currency 
upon  coins  of  gold  and  silver,  in  order  to  create  a  circulat- 
ing medium,  the    States   were   forbidden   to   make   any- 
thing but  these  coins  a  tender  in  the  payment  of  debts, 
and  no  power  was  delegated  to  the  United  States  to  do  so ; 
solution  of    and  therefore,  as  a  medium  for  the  solution  of  debts  be- 
tween man    tweeii  man  and  man,  the  Constitution  intended  that  the 
gold  and  silver  coin,   stamped  by   Congress,  as  well  as 
foreign    coins,    whose    value,    like   that   of   the    domestic 
coin,  is  to  be  regulated  by  Congress,  was  to  be  the  only 
medium  for  the  payment  of  debts  under  the  system  es- 
tablished by  the  Constitution." 

As  to  these  great  names,  those  of  the  men  of  the  Phil- 
adelphia Convention  from  Washington  on  down ;  those 
of  the  second  great  period  of  American  history,  to  wit, 
the  period  of  Webster ;  and  finally  the  later  period,  that 
of  Blaine  and  Tucker,  compared  with  the  names  of  the 
members  of  that  Constitution-defying  and  silver-demone- 
tizing Congress  of  1873,  ^  can  De  said,  as  did  the  Prince 
of  Denmark  in  the  play :  — 

:<  Look  here,  upon  this  picture,  and  on  this, 
The  counterfeit  presentment  of  —  statesman." 


and    man. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  Practical  Result  of  This,  the  Scientific  and  Con- 
stitutional View  of  the  Money  Question. 

SECTION    I. 
General    Statement. 

The  practical  result  of  the  foregoing  views  of  the 
money  question  is  twofold:  — 

First,  To  Restore  Silver. —  To  restore  silver 
to  its  full  power  of  tender,  its  full  power  of  money,  in 
all  matters  whatsoever  and  to  any  amount.  Every  silver 
coin  of  the  United  States,  whether  dime,  quarter-dollar, 
half-dollar  or  dollar,  is  full  tender  for  any  amount  and  in 
any  contract  or  transaction;  they,  with  the  gold  coins. 
are  the  money,  the  tender ;  and  no  power  exists  to  dis- 
place them  in  that  function  ;  and  — 

Second,  To  Remove  the  "  Scarecrow." — To  remove 
that  "scarecrow,"  that  "nursery  tale,"  that  for  so  long 
a  time  has  frightened  so  many  patriots  out  of  their  Patriots. 
patriotic  doctrine,  to  wit,  that  under  "free  coinage"  "Free 
Europe,  Asia,  indeed  all  the  world  outside  of  the  United 
States,  would  "  dump  "  their  old  silverware  and  trinkets 
and  silver  coins  into  the  United  States  mint  and  have 
them  coined  from  fifty-cent  silver  into  one-hundred- 
cent  dollars.  For  then  the  Congress  would  still  have 
the  power  "  to  coin  "  and  "  regulate,"  to  say  how  much 
gold  should  be  coined  and  how  much  silver  should  be 
coined,  and  what  should  be  the  ratio  between  them  when 

253 


254  Thirty  Years1  War  on  Silver 


Workman- 
ship main 
thing. 

No  danger. 


Foreign 
coins. 


Paying 
power    scarce 
to-day. 


Feudal 

tenure. 

Chattel 

slavery. 

Control 

labor   and 

products 

labor. 


of 


Obey   the 
Constitu- 

tion. 


coined ;  and  if  the  "  dumping  "  should  begin,  the  Con- 
gress could  soon  check  it.  But  the  "  dumping  "  would 
never  begin.  Silverware  and  trinkets,  like  all  manu- 
factured goods,  have  value  from  the  manufacture,  the 
labor  expended  upon  them  as  well  as  from  the  material 
of  which  they  are  made,  and  usually  the  material  is  a 
very  small  part  of  the  value  of  the  article ;  the  workman- 
ship put  upon  it  is  the  main  thing.  This  is  especially 
the  case  in  articles  made  of  silver.  There  is  no  danger 
from  that  source. 

Would  there  be  danger  from  the  silver  coins  of  other 
nations  ?  —  Not  a  particle ;  those  coins  are  needed,  and 
pressingly  needed  at  their  homes.  There  is  not  a  nation 
on  earth  to-day  that  is  not  in  pressing  need  of  money, 
real  money,  coin  that  is  tender.  There  is  indeed  no  lack 
among  them  of  governmental  promises  to  pay,  the  gov- 
ernment printing  presses  can  more  readily  turn  those 
out ;  but  the  coin  with  the  quality  of  tender  is  indeed 
scarce ;  that  is,  the  thing  that  does  not  merely  promise 
to  pay,  but  actually  pays,  is  scarce.  That,  however,  is 
just  what  the  plutocratic  oligarchies  of  every  nation  want, 
since  the  abolition  of  feudal  tenure  and  chattel  slavery ; 
because  by  that  means  they  can  as  effectually  control 
labor  and  the  products  of  labor  as  they  could  be  con- 
trolled under  the  feudal  system  or  under  the  system  of 
chattel  slavery.  The  oligarchs  indeed  want  it ;  but  the 
question  is,  Do  the  people  want  it?  And  the  next  ques- 
tion is,  Will  the  people  have  it?  If  so,  then  their  serv- 
itude is  of  their  own  making.  For  the  people  can  prevent 
it  by  compelling  the  Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  through  their  hot  indignation  ex- 
pressed in  their  ballots,  to  obey  that  Constitution  that 
each  member  of  each  body  has  so  solemnly  sworn  that  he 
would  obey.     This  will  cure  the  evil. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    255 

For  another  reason,  too,  the  "  dumping  "  would  never  Money  suit- 

.  .  able     in     kind 

begin.      When   the  Congress    realized   that   it   could   not  :md  ude- 

111  1111   <ii';<<''   '" 

make  money  of  mere  paper,  and  when  the  people  should  amount. 

teach  it  the  salutary  lesson  that  their  money  —  the  money 
of  the  small  transactions  of  life,  the  money  of  the  small 
dealer,  laborer  and  poor  man  —  should  be  as  good  as  the 
money  of  the  large  dealers  and  millionaries,  then  the  Con- 
gress would  see  that  it  was  compelled  to  get  a  tender, 
a  measure  of  value,  a  medium  of  exchange  that  was 
suitable  in  kind  and  adequate  in  amount. 

When  it  is  known  that  the  usurped  power  of  the  Con- 
gress, sustained  by  the  vagueness  and  the  illogical  at- 
tempts at  reasoning  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
cannot  endow  the  greenback  with  the  qualitv  of  tender,  Replacing 

,  ,  -i  11  1  •  11        greenbacks 

but  that  notwithstanding  these  they  remain  merelv  the  with  silver 

,  .  '  coin. 

United  States  government's  promise  to  pay,  then  the 
three  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  greenbacks  will  have 
to  be  replaced  by  silver  coin.  They  cannot  be  replaced 
by  mere  paper,  for  that  is  not  money ;  and  the  people  will 
demand  that  their  measure  of  value  and  their  medium 
of  exchange  be  money  and  not  money's  mere  sign,  rep- 
resentative or  token. 


SECTION    II. 

Specific   Statements. 

Gold  as  Money  in  Small  Transactions. —  The  three  Three  mm- 
hundred    and    fifty    millions    of    greenbacks    cannot    be  fifty    million 
replaced  by  gold  coins.     This  brings  up  a  question  on  backs, 
which  there  exists  much  confusion  and  misunderstanding, 
being  no  less   than  the   "  gold   standard,"   that   is,   gold 
coin   being  the   only   money.      If   gold   coin  is   the  only 
standard,  the  only  measure  of  value,  the  only  money, 


sons 


256  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

then  everything  else,  silver  in  all  its  denominations  of 
coinage,  paper  in  all  its  denominations,  are  mere  repre- 
sentatives of  the  gold  coins,  their  mere  sign  or  token. 
Three  rea-  That  being  so,  three  reasons  exist  why  silver  coin  should 
take  the  place  of  the  greenbacks :  — 

1.  The  people  want  money  and  not  tokens; 

2.  There  is  not  gold  enough  of  which  to  make  the 
coins ;  and 

3.  Gold  cannot  be  coined  in  denomination  sufficiently 
small. 

(1)  Money  Not  Tokens. — The  first  point  needs  no 
further  elucidation  here ;  if  the  people  are  wise,  they 
will  see  that  their  interest,  indeed,  their  safety,  lies  in 
having  for  their  business  money  and  not  mere  tokens. 

(2)  Not  Gold  Enough. —  The  second  point  needs  no 
special  discussion  here.  Elsewhere  in  this  work  it  is 
clearly  shown  that  there  is  not  gold  enough  in  the  United 
States  to  do  the  business  and  trade  of  the  United  States ; 
neither  is  there  enough  in  the  world  to  do  the  business 
and  commerce  of  the  world. 

(3)  Gold  Cannot  Be  Coined  in  Pieces  Small 
Enough. —  But  the  third  point  does,  it  would  seem, 
need  some  investigation.  For  again  and  again  has  the 
author  been  gravely  informed  by  really  good  lawyers,  "  in- 
telligent laymen,"  and  high  officials  of  the  government 
that  silver  must  cease  to  be  a  money  metal  and  that  gold 
must  take  its  place. 

Now,  the  answer  to  this  position,  as  well  as  that  of  re- 
placing the  greenbacks  with  silver  coin  instead  of  gold 
coin,  is  this :  in  addition  to  the  fact  tha»t  there  is  not  gold 
enough,  gold  cannot  be  coined  in  denominations  suffi- 
ciently small  for  the  ordinary  and  small  transactions  of 
life. 

The   Congress   at  one  time   did  provide   by   law    (not 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     257 

simply  enactment)  for  coining  a  gold-piece  called  a  dollar:  c.oid  dollar 

but  it  soon  caused  the  coinage  of  such  pieces  to  cease  — 

they  were  too  small.     The  writer  well  remembers  having  Too  small. 

seen  some  of  those  little  things  in  his  youth  ;  it  weighed 

25.8  grains,  and  was  a  little  disk  of  gold  about  as  big  as 

a  section  of  a  green  pea  cut  through   its  center !     The  section  of 

,  ....  r  .     ,  .    .  .  green    pea. 

reader  can  get  a  fair  idea  of  it  by  imagining  a  five-dollar 
gold-piece  reduced  to  one-fifth  of  its  size.  Think  of  a 
little  thing  like  that  doing  duty  as  a  medium  of  exchange 
passing  from  hand  to  hand  ! 

Now  divide  this  little  thing  into  halves,  and  each  half 
would  be  the  half-dollar !  Divide  one  of  these  halves  into 
halves,  and  each  reduced  half  would  be  the  quarter-dollar! 
Divide  one  of  these  doubly  reduced  halves  into  halves, 
and  each  doubly  reduced  half  would  be  the  dime,  rather 
two  and  one-half  cents  more  than  the  dime !  Think  of 
those  little  gold  midgets  going  round  day  and  night  doing  Gold 
business  among  "  grown-up  men  "  !  Why,  they  would  be 
lost  so  quick  that,  although  they  are  money,  the  police 
could  not  find  them ! 

Truly,  seriously,  beseechingly,  my  countrymen,  the  gold  silver  and 

.'      .  *"  ,"    .  ..  -it-  sold    created 

com  cannot  do  the  business  01  the  silver  coin !  it  is  con-  for  money. 
fidently  believed  that  the  all-wise  and  benevolent  God  who 
created  man  and  made  the  things  of  earth  for  man's  use, 
made  the  gold  and  the  silver  to  be  man's  money  ;  that  man 
cannot  without  injury  to  himself  dispense  with  the  use  of 
either  as  money,  and  that  there  is  no  other  substance  or 
thing  so  well  adapted  to  the  use  of  money  as  these  two 
metals.  They,  and  they  alone,  carry  in  them  those  qual- 
ities which  should  characterize  the  things  that  should  be 
endowed  with  that  great,  if  not  the  greatest,  attribute  of 
sovereignty,  to  wit,  the  debt-paying  power.  See  on  pages 
139  to  141,  the  nine  physical  qualities  of  the  things  suitable 
for  money.  It  is  perfectly  useless  to  think  of  any  other 
17 


258 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


value. 


material  substance  as  money  except  gold  and  silver ;  and 
in  nearly  every  country  where  paper  has  been  endowed 
Paper  money  by  law  with  the  attributes  of  money,  it  has  fallen  in  value 
to  nothing,  and  the  exceptions  are  due  to  special  circum- 
stances. It  is  stated,  endowed  by  law ;  for  unless  re- 
strained by  a  constitution  or  fundamental  law,  a  nation 
can  endow  mere  paper  with  the  attributes,  characteristics 
and  incidents  of  money.  But  that  such  endowed  paper 
falls  in  value  to  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  look  at  the 
assignats  of  France  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  "  continental  money  "  in  America  near  the 
same  time.  Indeed,  when  a  government  has  the  power  to 
declare  paper  to  be  money,  the  temptation  to  declaring, 
rather  than  running  the  risk  of  the  unpopularity  of  tax- 
ing, is  so  great  that  history  shows  that  the  exercise  of  the 
power  even  when  possessed  is  unwise.  Better  honesth 
borrow,  as  will  be  hereafter  shown. 


Dishonest 
declaring. 


Honest 
borrowing 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  Insufficiency  of  the  Supply  of  Gold  in  the  United 
States  and  in  the  World. 

The  great  contention  of  the  "  gold  standard  "  men 
is,  and  has  been,  that  there  is  money  enough  in  the 
United  States  and  in  the  world  to  do  the  business 
and  commerce  of  the  United  States  and  the  business  and 
commerce  of  the  world. 

To  prove  that  contention,  they  call  gold  coin,  and  also 
its  six  above-enumerated  representatives,  money,  and  then 
in  imaginary  triumph  exclaim,  "  See,  we  have  $28.00  per 
capita  in  the  United  States  and  $5.00  in  the  world!" 
Nothing  could  well  be  more  misleading  or  fallacious.  The  per 
Gold  coin  is  the  only  money  in  the  United  States  now  '^s.oo.  not 
and  in  most  countries  of  the  world,  especially  in  Europe ; 
and  to  find  the  amount  of  money  per  capita  in  the  United 
States  or  in  any  other  country,  it  is  only  necessary  to  as- 
certain the  amount  of  gold  coin  in  circulation  in  the 
United  States  or  in  any  other  country,  and  then  divide 
that  amount  by  the  number  of  the  population.  Thus  the 
gold  coin  in  the  United  States  in  circulation  is,  in  round 
numbers,  $800,000,000.00,  and  the  population  is  77,000,- 
000.  The  quotient  of  $800,000,000.00  divided  by  the 
number  77,000,000  is  about  $10.70,  and  the  amount  $10.70  Only  $10.70. 
is  the  amount  of  money  per  capita  now  in  circulation  in 
the  United  States ;  and  it  is  downright  wickedness  for 
one  understanding  the  subject  to  say  the  amount  of  money 
per  capita  in  the  United  States  is  $28.00,  as  many  self- 
styled  statisticians  and  economists  have  done. 

259 


260  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


statement  in  Perhaps  a  detailed  statement  may  be  of  some  value 
here.  In  the  report  of  the  director  of  the  mint  of  the 
United  States  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1900, 
appears  the  following:  On  the  first  of  July,  1900,  gold 
coin  "  in  the  treasury  of  the  United  States,"  $310,452,261  ; 
gold  coin  in  national  banks  June  29,  1900,  $193,857,948 
(mark  you,  in  this  $193,857,948  is  included  $91,928,500 
gold  clearing-house  certificates)  ;  "  gold  coin  "  in  other 
banks  and  in  circulation,"  $416,948,524,  making  a  total 
of  $921,258,733.  The  gold  clearing-house  certificates  not 
being  money  in  circulation,  should  of  course  be  deducted, 
thus  leaving,  even  according  to  gold  standard  estimates, 
the  amount  of  gold  coin  in  circulation  in  the  United 
States  only  $830,235,223.  The  population  of  the  United 
States  is  77,000,000  people,  and  $830,235,223  divided 
by  the  number  of  77,000,000  gives  a  quotient  of  $10.70; 
and  the  per  capita  of  $10  70  is  all  the  money  in  circulation 
in  the  United  States,  even  in  the  "  year  of  great  pros- 
perity." Should  the  tide  turn  against  us,  and  the  balance 
of  trade  run  against  instead  of  in  favor  of  the  United 
States,  and  this  gold  coin  in  circulation  be  shipped  to  Eu- 
rope to  pay  debts  there,  where  would  we  be  as  to  money  ? 
The  crisis,  the  panic,  the  financial  cataclysm,  would  be 
upon  -us,  and  again  would  the  earnings  and  savings  of 
the  poor  and  those  of  moderate  means  go  into  the  coffers 
of  the  wealthy  and  gold-holding  class.  Thus  the  "  endless 
chain "  that  draws  the  money  from  the  poor  into  the 
pockets  of  the  rich  would  be  ever  ceaselessly  working. 
rer  capita  The  amount  of  money  in  circulation  in  the  world  is  not 
I'ot  $5.00.  $5  per  capita,  as  self-styled  statisticians  and  economists 
say ;  it  is  only  about  $1.60.  Thus  the  "  specie  in  banks  and 
national  treasuries  "  of  the  world  (United  States  Mint 
Report  for  1899)  is  $2,500,000,000,  and  the  amount  of 
population    in    the    world    is,    according   to    statisticians, 


Panic, 

cataclysm, 

etc. 


Endless 
chain." 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     261 

1,555,000,000;  and  $2,500,000,000  divided  by  the  number 
1,555,000,000  gives  a  quotient  of  $1.60.  Therefore,  on 
the  best  showing  possible  the  amount  of  money  per  capita 
in  the  world  is  only  $1.60.  Nay,  it  is  not  that  much,  for  only  $i.go, 
in  the  estimate  above  mentioned  it  will  be  observed  that  much. 
the  sum  $2,500,000,000  includes  both  the  gold  coin  and 
the  silver  coin  in  circulation,  and  perhaps  one-half 
thereof  —  of  the  coin  —  is  silver,  and  silver  demonetized 
cannot  be  money.  Think  of  it,  when  demonetized  silver 
is  called  money.  Demonetized  money !  Round-square, 
short-long,  low-high,  broad-narrow,  black-white,  dishon- 
est-honest, deodorized-odor,  bad-good  —  and  demonetized 
money ! 

Not  only  have  "  fidelity,  modesty,  justice  and  truth,"  Sllne  think- 
but   also   logic,   common   sense,   sane   thinking  and   sane  ^fakTng.8ane 
speaking,  fled  — 

"  Up  to  Olympus  from  the  widespread  earth." 

Strike  out  the  demonetized  silver  from  the  last  fore-  Fair  show- 
going  estimate,  and  instead  of  the  amount  of  money  per  8o\-ents. 
capita  in  the  world  being  $1.60,  it  is  only  eighty  cents. 
Indeed,  on  a  fair  showing  it  would  not  be  even  eighty 
cents.    When  the  "  gold  standard  "  men  say  there  is  gold 
enough  in  the  United  States  and  in  the  world  to  do  the 
business  and  commerce  of  the  United  States  and  the  busi- 
ness and  commerce  of  the  world,  could  effronterv  2:0  fur- 
ther  ?    The  men  who  assert  it  —  to  use  Homeric  language, 
for  emphasis  merely,  and  not  with  disrespect  or  ill  feeling 
—  have  "  the  face  of  a  dog,"  and  they  must  think  that  the  "Fare  of  a 
long-suffering   people   have   the    "  heart   of   a    stag "    to  "Heart  of  a 
bear  it.  stag'" 


CHAPTER   X. 

An  Ethical   Question. 

SECTION   I. 

When  the  Money  of  a  Country  Cannot  be  Changed 
without  the  Commission  of  a  Moral  Wrong. 


paper  money f— ■— ^rusti ng  that  the  reader  has  well  understood,  and 

ethically  , 

considered.  that  he  will  keep  steadily  in  mind  the  true  concept 

am",  definition  of  money,  we   invite  his  attention 
now  to  an  ethical  question :  — 

Should  a  government,  although  it  has  the  legal  right  to 
do  so,  make  paper  money? 

Among  the  characteristics  and  incidents  of  money  men- 
tioned in  preceding  pages  are  these  two,  very  important 
ones  in  the  consideration  of  the  subject  of  this  chapter:  — 
3ieasure  of        First,  Monev  is  the  common  measure  of  value ;  and  — 

value   and 

storer  of  Second,  Monev  is  a  storer  of  value. 

value   each  J 

has  value  in     Money  Itself  Has  Value. —  In  each  capacity,  monev 

itself.  .  -  J 

itself  has  value.  It  not  only  measures  and  stores  other 
Yardstick  values,  but  it  is  itself  valuable.  It  is  not  only  the  yard- 
ment. "'  stick  that  measures  the  cloth,  but  it  is  the  thing  that  pays 
storing  for  tiie  doth.     It  is  not  only  the  storing-  place  of  other 

place   and  ■>  o    i 

thing  stored,  values,  but  it  is  also  the  value  stored,  the  valuable  thing 
stored. 

Labor    stored       LABOR     STORED     IN     LANDS,    PERSONAL    PROPERTY    AND 
in    lands    and  . 

houses.  Money. —  A  labors  for  twenty  years  in  a      learned  pro- 

fession," at  merchandising,  or  farming,  or  mechanical  or 

?62 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    263 

any  other  labor.    At  the  end  of  the  time,  or  as  he  goes  on 

from    year   to   year   therein,    he    buys    lands    and   builds 

houses  thereon,  thus  putting  or  storing  his  labor  in  houses  Labor  stored 

and  lands;  B  labors  for  the  same  time,  and  similarly  puts  property.' 

or  stores  his  labor  in  articles  of  personal  property ;  and  C 

labors  similarly,  and  similarly  puts  or  stores  his  labor  in  Labor  stored 

11'         ii-  11  1  •      ln  ,noney- 

money,  the  thing  that  his  government,  which  owes  him  uovem- 

.  .  .  .   .  „        .  ,  .  i»ent    owes 

protection  in  return  for  his  allegiance  and  service,  savs  protection, 

a  '        citizen  and 

shall  pay  all  his  debts,  and  with  which  he  may  buy  any  of  resident 

J  owe  obe- 

the  other  things.    The  amount  of  the  stored  value  in  each  <«ence. 

case,  say,  is  twenty  thousand  dollars.    Is  not  each  of  them 

equally  entitled  to  the  protection  of  his  government  for 

his  value  stored?    It  would  seem  that  no  one  would  deny 

it.    If  his  government,  having  the  power,  should  legislate  Legislating 

A's  houses  and  lands  away  from  him,  or,  which  is  the  lands.  ° 

same  thing,  all  value  out  of  them,  by  saying  A  should  not 

use  them,  would  not  A's  indignation  be  intense  and  the 

act  of  his  government  unjust?     If  B's  personal  property  Legislating 

were  legislated  upon  in  a  similar  fashion,  would  his  in-  personal 

dignation  be  less  or  the  injustice  of  the  government  less? 

And  yet  C's  money  can  be  legislated  away  from  him,  or 

which  is  the  same  thing,  all  value  be  legislated  out  of  it  Legislating 

by  saying  C  shall  not  use  it,  shall  not  pay  his  debts  with  money.0 

it,  and  the  authors  of  the  law  applaud  themselves  from  a 

thousand  rostrums  for  doing  it ! 

Of  course,  in  the  foregoing  is  meant,  if  a  government 
has  once  provided  a  metallic  money  and  then  strikes  all 
of  that  out  and  puts  paper  in  its  stead.  Certainly  then  the 
owners  of  the  metallic  money  would  have  its  value  legis- 
lated out  of  it  and  into  the  paper,  and  those  owners  would  Rob  for  its 
simply  be  robbed!  If  the  government  owned  and  paid 
out  in  payment  of  its  debts  this  paper  into  which  it  had 
legislated  the  money  function,  it  would  rob  the  metallic 
money  owner  for  its  own  benefit.    This  would  be  stealing; 


264  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Rob     for 
benefit    of 
others. 


Strike  out 
all  metal- 
lic money. 


The    moral 
quality   of 
action. 


*/j:    moral 

quality 

same. 


Old    money 
and    new 
money. 


it  would  have  the  primary  element  of  larceny,  what  is 
termed  in  law  lucri  causa  [for  the  sake  of  gain].  If  this 
paper  were  owned  by  others  than  the  government  or  those 
owning  the  former  metallic  money,  the  government  would 
then  rob  for  the  benefit  of  others ;  and  this  too  would  have 
the  element  of  larceny  called  lucri  causa,  the  only  differ- 
ence being  the  gain  would  be  the  gain  of  another. 

Thus  far  the  government  is  supposed  to  strike  out  by 
law  all  the  metallic  money  of  the  country  and  put  in  an 
equal  amount  of  paper  money.  Then  it  is  clear  to  the 
dullest  intellect,  that  wishes  to  see,  that  the  robbery  of 
the  metallic-money  owner  is  complete,  and  that  justice 
and  morality  would  demand  that  the  metallic-money 
owner  should  receive  an  amount  of  the  paper  money 
equal  in  value  to  his  metallic  money.  Without  this  or 
something  equivalent  to  it  the  moral  sense  would  be 
shocked. 

If  the  government  struck  out  one-half  of  the  metallic 
money  and  put  paper  money  in  its  stead,  the  wrong  would 
be  identical  in  kind  ;  it  would  be  robbery  again,  but  the 
amount  stolen  would  be  but  half.  The  moral  quality  of 
the  action  would  be  the  same.  That  is  what  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  did  in  1873  with  regard  to  its 
metallic  money ;  it  made  enactments,  not  laws,  which 
struck  out  one-half  of  the  metallic  money,  to  wit,  the  silver 
coin,  and  thereby  robbed  every  owner  of  silver  coin  or 
silver  bullion  or  silver  mines  to  that  extent ;  for  each  had 
stored  his  labor  in  those  things. —  coin,  bullion,  mines, — 
and  justice  and  fair  dealing  demand  that  they  be  com- 
pensated therefor.  In  these  cases  it  will  be  observed 
that  the  government  displaces  metallic  money  and  puts  an 
equal  amount  of  paper  money  in  its  stead ;  and  the  robbery 
thereby  committed  is  obvious.  Of  course,  it  would  be  the 
same  if  the  government  displaced  any  kind  of  established 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     265 

money  and  put  a  new  money  in  its  stead.  The  old  owners 
would  be  robbed  unless  they  were  adequately  compen- 
sated for  their  lost  money. 

Government  May  Increase  Money  without  Moral 
Wrong. —  Now,  the  question  arises  :  Suppose  the  country  More    money 

...  ,,  .'     needed. 

actually  needed  more  money ;  is  it  then  morally  wrong  in 
the  government  to  supply  it  ?  No ;  because  it  is  one  of 
the  duties  as  well  as  powers  of  the  government,  well 
understood  at  its  formation,  to  provide  for  an  adequate  Right  to 

supply    it. 

supply  of  money ;  that  is  what  the  control  of  the  money 

of  the  country  is  given  to  the  government  for.     In  the 

United  States  under  the  provision  of  its  Constitution,  the  constitu- 

1  1  iim:i  1  pro- 

control  of  the  supply  of  money  is  given  to  the  Congress  vision. 

by  granting  to  it  the  power  to  coin  gold  and  silver,  less 
or  more  of  each,  as  the  business  and  trade  of  the  country 
require.  Complying  with  that  well-understood  and  fun- 
damental requirement  of  government  could  injure  no  one, 
that  is,  injure  in  the  sense  of  wrong.     Of  course,  with  an  inadequate 

supply 

inadequate  supply  of  money  in  the  country,  money  would  makes 

be  very  dear  or  the  more  valuable,  and  with  the  incoming 

of  an  amount  requisite  to  fill  up  the  deficiency  and  make 

an  adequate  supply,  the  value  of  the  money  theretofore 

in  the  country  would  cheapen  and  be  less,  but  that  would  supplying 

1  deficiency    no 

not  work  moral  or  ethical  wrong  to  the  owners  of  the  llloral 

0  wrong. 

former  money,  because  that  whole  matter  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  government  up  to  the  time  of  the  trans- 
action was  carried  on  under  the  implied  understanding 
that  it  would  be  the  duty  of  the  government  at  every 
moment  to  provide  for  an  adequate  supply  of  money.  No 
one  should  desire  that  his  neighbor  should  suffer  in  order 
that  he  himself  may  unjustly  prosper.    That  disposition  is  Unjust 

,  ,  .  '  .       .      "  .     ,  .  prosperity. 

largely  prevalent,  but  it  is  not  right  or  just. 

Comparison   with   Wheat. —  Suppose  the  supply  of  wheat 

1         famine. 

any  commodity,  say  wheat,  should  become  scarce,  so  that 


266 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Money 
famine. 


Legislating 
wheat      Uow 
without 
necessity 
therefor. 


Wieked. 


Moral 
wrong   of 
govern- 
ment   to 
silver    own- 
ers,  not   to 
silver    itself. 


famine,  or  even  moderate  want,  should  result,  and  the 
government  should  purchase  its  supplies  of  wheat  from 
foreign  countries,  could  the  owners  of  the  wheat  in  the 
country  therefore  justly  complain  because  the  purchase  of 
foreign  wheat  had  lowered  the  price  and  thereby  lessened 
the  value  of  their  property?  Most  assuredly  not.  So,  if 
the  government  takes  steps  to  prevent  a  money  famine,  or 
even  a  moderate  want  of  money,  no  one  owning  money 
could  justly  complain.  If  a  miser  or  an  avaricious 
"  money  grub,"  he  might  regret  it ;  but  he  could  not 
justly  complain  of  it.  But"  suppose  the  government, 
having  the  power  to  do  so,  should  pass  a  law  that  wheat 
should  not  be  used  in  this  country,  and  substitute  some 
other  thing  for  bread,  would  the  wheat  owner  not  have 
good  ground  for  complaint?  Certainly  he  would.  If 
this  were  done  simply  for  the  benefit  of  the  owner  of  the 
new  substance,  the  act  of  the  government  would  be 
wicked,  and  if  done  simply  to  injure  the  wheat  owner,  it 
would  likewise  be  wicked.  But  if  done  for  the  public 
good,  otherwise  than  to  supply  deficiency  in  the  quantity, 
say,  to  get  an  article  more  suitable  to  the  purpose  intended, 
then  it  would  not  be  wicked,  but  it  would  be  a  wrong  to 
the  wheat  owner  unless  the  government  compensated  him 
for  his  loss.  The  change  to  a  better  substance  would 
otherwise  be  a  moral  wrong  to  him. 

The  analogy  is  complete  here  as  to  the  wrong  of  the 
government  in  the  silver  demonetization  enactments  of 
the  Congress  of  1873.  The  Congress  then,  without  neces- 
sary cause  or  public  benefit,  struck  out  silver  coin  as 
money,  thus  inflicting  grievous  wrong  on  all  owners  of 
silver  coin,  silver  bullion  and  silver  mines.  The  plea  of 
necessity  or  public  benefit  will  not  avail;  for  in  the  first 
place,  there  was  no  great  scarcity,  and  had  there  been, 
striking  out  a  part  of  what  there  was  would  have  made 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    267 

matters  worse.  On  the  contrary,  of  late  years,  not  at 
first,  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  justify  the  said  enact- 
ments on  the  ground  of  superfluity  —  that  there  was  too  Xo  surplus 

,  „.  .    ,         .        .       '        .  of   money. 

much  money,      inis  is  false  in  fact;  there  was  not  at  any 

time  too  much  money.     The  world  has  never  yet  seen  the 

time  that  there  was  in  it  too  much  money ;  no  country  has  Never  too 

ever  seen  the  time  that  there  was  too  much  money  in  that 

country.     What  historian  so  says  ?  —  No  one. 

If  Too  Much  Money,  Government  May  Reduce 
without  Moral  Wrong,  If  Done  Equitably. —  But 
granting,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  and  only  for  that 
reason,  that  there  was  too  much  money  in  this  country  in 
1873,  and  that  the  public  good  required  a  reduction  of  the 
amount,  why  should  the  owners  of  silver  coin,  silver  bul- 
lion and  silver  mines  be  made  to  bear  the  whole  burden  whole  i>ur- 

clen    throwu 

of  the  reduction  ?     Why  should  not  the  owners  of  gold  on  silver 

J  °  owners. 

coin,  gold  bullion  and  gold  mines  be  made  to  bear  their 
proportionate  share?     There  is  no  reason  but  the  wicked 
reason    that    those    managing    the    silver-demonetization 
scheme  were  working  in  the  interests  of  the  gold  kings  of  <JoId    kings. 
the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  and  of  Europe. 

The  Spellbinders  deluded  the  people,  especially  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States,  by  asserting,  and 
falsely  asserting,  that  the  "  silver  craze  "  was  gotten  up 
in    the    interests   of   a    few    silver   kings   of   the    mining  silver 

0  &   kings. 

States,  and  the  fight  was  inspired  by  them.  It  is  not  true. 
The  contrary  is  the  truth ;  the  war  on  silver  was  gotten  up 
in  the  interests  of  the  eastern  and  European  gold  kings, 
and  a  large  number  of  poor  and  deluded  Spellbinders 
and  editors  were  silly  enough  or  wicked  enough  to  be  the  Silly    instru- 

,  "  ,  meiits    of    tilt 

instruments  in  the  unholy  war  that  they  waged  on  silver,  unholy  war. 

An  Incident:  A  Spellbinder  on  the  Comstock 
Lode. —  Their  delusion  was  so  great  that  it  is  believed  an 
incident   of   the   presidential   campaign   of    1900   will   be 


268 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Exulting 
mockery. 


Silver 
dead ! ! 
dead!!! 


Nevada    a 
silver     State, 


Patriotism 

forbids 


•'  Protec- 
tion to 
American 
industries." 


Patriotism 
cannot 
prefer 
green- 
backs to 
silver. 


pardoned  here.  An  Eastern  Spellbinder,  sent  out  to  in- 
struct the  people  of  Nevada  how  to  vote,  standing  on  a 
political  rostrum  erected  on  the  Comstock  lode,  in  sight 
of  smokeless  chimneys,  dismantled  hoisting  works  and 
empty  houses,  and  amid  the  ruins  of  the  vast  industries 
of  a  large  city  destroyed  by  the  silver  demonetization 
enactments,  and  in  the  hearing  of  men  and  women  thus 
legislated  into  ruin,  in  exulting  mockery,  boasted  that  his 
party,  aided  by  the  "  gold  men,"  had  struck  such  blows 
dead! against  silver  that  it  was  "  dead,  dead,  dead,"  at  the  same 
time  making  the  gesture  of  an  athlete  "  striking  out  from 
the  shoulder  " !  Who  wonders  that  Nevada  is  a  "  silver 
State?  "  rather,  who  should  not  wonder  that  any  patriotic 
State  in  the  American  Union  is  not  a  silver  State  ? 

Every  Patriotic  State  Should  be  a  Silver  State. — 
Why  ?  —  Because  silver  is  a  large  production  of  our  own 
country,  and  therefore  could  a  patriotic  man,  one  who  loves 
his  country,  wish  that  a  large  industry  of  his  own  country 
should  have  the  value  legislated  out  of  it  and  legislated 
into  any  other  thing,  and  especially  into  a  mere  nothing, 
that  is,  into  paper?  "  Protection  to  American  industries  " 
has  been,  and  is,  a  "  war  cry,"  a  shibboleth,  a  catch 
phrase ;  but  in  the  mind  of  the  Gold  Solomons  it  must 
mean  protection  to  some  American  industries,  not  to  all ; 
that  is,  to  their  industries  —  protect  theirs,  and  all  the 
others  can  go  to  ruin,  as  have  the  silver  industries,  for 
what  the  Gold  Solomons  care. 

Just  to  think,  legislate  the  money  value  out  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  million  of  dollars  of  silver,  and  lesis- 
late  that  amount  of  value  into  mere  paper,  the  green- 
backs !  And  yet  some,  even  many,  and  they  very  prom- 
inent and  distinguished  "  silver  men,"  advocate  this !  It 
seems  incomprehensible  indeed.  If  the  three  hundred  and 
fifty    millions    of    dollars    of    greenbacks    are    needed    as 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    269 

money,  as  tender,  why  not  transfer  their  quality  of  money, 

of  tender,  to  silver  coin,  a  product  and  industry  of  our  own  Product  of 

.      .  ..  4i-\r  our   own 

country?     Patriotism  exclaims  in  thunder  tones:       Yes,  country. 
do  so;  it  is  right  and  just."     But  selfishness  and  greed  Patriotism 

ami    jjreed. 

would  say :  "  No,  it  would  lesson  our  control  over  labor 
and  the  products  of  labor."  Which  should  wisdom  and 
justice  follow? 

Even  if  the  three  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  if  not 

J  needed  as 

of   greenbacks   are   not   needed   as   monev,   tender,    then  tender, 

0  J  greenbacks 

making  them  such  takes  out  that  much  from  the  value  of  nun  silver. 
silver,  a  home  industry.     In  any  possible  view  the  mis-  Mischievous 

*  -      *  sentiment. 

chievous  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  greenback  is  a  mis- 
taken one,  and  works  harm  and  harm  only. 

And  in  addition  to  the  foregoing,  let  it  never  be  for- 
gotten that,  incontestably,  legislating  the  quality  of  money, 
tender,  out  of  silver  coin  is  unconstitutional,  and  there-   Withal 

r  ■    t  rr^,  r  •         •  1  r  t  UIKOllstitU- 

fore  void.  1  herefore  patriotism,  love  of  one  s  own  coun-  tionai. 
try,  and  loyalty  to  its  government,  forbid  both  the  de- 
monetization of  silver  and  the  monetization  of  green- 
backs. Therefore  the  Gold  Solomon  and  the  greenbacker 
are  each  unpatriotic  and  disloyal  to  the  best  interests 
of  his  country ;  he  neither  loves  his  country  nor  its 
form  of  government ;  in  both  respects  he  loves  the  Eng-  English 

-\T  form    of 

lish  country  and  its  form  of  government  better.    Jno  won-  govern- 

der  is  it  that  men  nowadays  frequently  say  the  English 

form  of  government  is  better  than  the  American !     And,  American 

form    of 

ye  true  patriots  of  America,  unless  you  guard  your  liber-  govern- 
or      •  meilt. 

ties  won  for  you  bv  the  blood,  the  suffering  and  wisdom 

J  Guard 

of  your  ancestors  better  than  you  have  done  of  late  years,  liberty. 

you  will  surely  lose  them  ;  the  lovers  of  the  English  form 

of  government  will  impose  that  form  on  you !     Allow  not 

your  servants,  the  ministers  of  your  government,  to  taste  Taste  of 

.  ...     arbitrary 

of  arbitrary  power !    Permit  them  to  do  so  when  you  think  power. 

it  is  for  your  interests  that  it  be  done,  and  they  will  claim 


270 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Principiis 
obsta. 


Sagacious 
English- 
men. 


Man    in 
silver-pro- 
ducing 
State. 


■Manufac- 
turing 
State? 


Not   fair 
play. 


Supply    and 
demand. 


Applies    to 
money. 


Strange    con 
tradiction. 


it  as  their  right  when  it  is  your  enslavement  when  it  is 
done.  No ;  the  wiser  maxim,  the  only  safe  maxim,  is 
principiis  obsta  [resist  beginnings],  resist  the  beginning 
of  usurpation  and  tyranny ! 

When  the  Congress  is  permitted  by  the  people  to  do 
one  thing  that  is  beyond  its  power  as  laid  down  in  the 
Constitution,  then  it  will  soon  claim  the  right  to  do  other 
things  beyond  those  powers  so  laid  down,  and  thus  by 
vicious  interpretation  the  liberties  of  the  people  are  lost. 

An  Englishman  once  said  to  an  American,  '  You 
Americans  are  fools !  You  legislated  your  own  produc- 
tions down  in  value.  Were  your  silver  mines  the  property 
of  us  English,  we  English  would  use  them  more  wisely 
for  our  own  interests." 

Thus  much  as  to  the  patriotism  of  the  whole  country. 
What  can  be  said  in  reference  to  the  man  in  Nevada  or 
any  other  State  where  silver  is  a  large  production!  Sup- 
pose some  of  our  great  manufacturing  States  had  the 
question  in  hand,  would  not  the  land  ring  with  the  cries 
and  shrieks  of  oppression  ?  They  claim  legislation  up  for 
their  production,  and  Gold  Solomons  legislation  down 
for  the  production  of  others !  Gentlemen,  that  is  not  fair 
play  !     Equal  rights  to  all  should  be  the  motto. 

Note  how  wisely  and  justly  the  Constitution  framers 
provided  for  supply  and  demand,  those  automatic  balanc- 
ing powers  in  economic  law  that  govern  everything,  even 
money,  notwithstanding  some  of  the  most  prominent  men 
in  American  politics  have  claimed  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand  is  not  applicable  to  money.  In  one  notable  in- 
stance coming  under  the  writer's  observation  in  one  of 
the  late  presidential  campaigns,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  American  statesmen,  near  the  beginning  of  a 
.speech  that  cut  immense  figure  in  shaping  the  destinies 
of  the  United  States,  asserted  the  universality  of  that  law, 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    271 

the  law  of  supply  and  demand,  and  toward  the  conclusion 
of  the  same  speech  denied  it  as  to  money !     Such  is  the 
consistency  of  Gold  Solomons!     The  trainers  understood 
and  recognized  this  law,  and  made  ample  provision  for  it 
in    the    Constitution.      What    is    that    provision?      How  wisely   pro- 
simple  and  yet  how  efficient  it  is !     It  is  this  :  "  The  Con- 
gress shall  have  the  power  to  coin  money,"  that  is,  to  make 
money  of  the  only  two  things  of  which  it  can,  or  indee 
ought  to  be  made,  to  wit,  gold  and  silver, —  gold  for  the  <;<>id  for 
large   transactions   and   silver   for  the   smaller,   but   both  for  small 

.  .  ,  .  ..      .       ,  .  .  ,         transactions- 

money,  tender,  neither  of  limited  tender,  or  string-tender,  no  "  string 
the  string  attached  to  the  tender  to  pull  that  quality  out  teu  er' 
of  the  coin  when  the  creditor  wishes !    The  framers  of  the 
Constitution  presumed  that  the  Congress  of  the   United 
States  would  be  composed  of  a  reasonably  wise  and  pa- 
triotic body  of  men  (the  Congresses  of  1873  and  its  suc- 
cessors  were  not   anticipated  by  them!),   and   that  they 
would  be  constantly  on  the   lookout  to  provide   for  the 
wants   and   necessities   of   the   country.      Therefore   they  The  efficient 
gave  to  them  this  power  "  to  coin,"  so  that  if  money  should 
become  scarce  they  could  "  coin  "  more,  of  either  gold  or 
silver,  as  the  occasion  required  ;  if  money  should  become 
too  abundant,  the  supply  too  great,  they  could  cease  the 
coining  for  a  while.     Thus  a  simple,  effective  and  consti- 
tutional remedy  is  always  at  hand. 

But  as  stated  in  former  pages,  neither  gold  nor  silver  Gold  mi- 
could  be  dispensed  with  as  money,  for  two  reasons:  (1)   small 
the  gold  does  not  exist  in  sufficient  quantities  to  meet  the  tions*' 
demand  alone,  and  neither  does  the  silver;  and  (2)  gold  snver, 

v     '    <=>  somewhat 

is  entirelv  unsuited  to  small  transactions,  and  silver  some-  ««^«'i*oa  for 

larjje 

what  so  for  larger  ones.     Gold  could  be  much  better  dis-  transactions 
pensed  with  than  silver.     Gold  cannot  be  used  in  small 
transactions,  it  would  be  like  using  a  razor  to  cut  wood ; 
but  silver  can  be  used  in  large  transactions,  although  less 
convenient  than  gold. 


272  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

A  Much-Used  Argument  (God  Save  the  Mark!). — 

Perhaps  there  may  be  no  better  place  than  here  to  speak 

of  a   fallacy  much   used  by  the   Spellbinder   during  the 

silver  bulky,  said  "  thirty  years'  war,"  to  wit,  "  silver  is  bulky  to  carry 

"  cart  loads  around."     In  discussing  this  question,  they  picture  silver 

train  Toads    in  cart  loads  going  f  rom  place  to  place.    But  it  is  believed 

that  if  one  of  them  had  that  amount  of  silver  he  would 

not  begrudge  the  carts !    Is  not  gold  now  transported  even 

by  the  train  load  ? 

But  whether  gold  coin  alone  or  silver  coin  alone,  or  both 

gold  coin  and   silver  coin   should   be  the  money  of  the 

Bank  country,  the  function  of  bank  checks  and  bank  drafts  and 

notes,' drafts,  bank  bills  and  bank  notes  would  not  be  destroyed;  they 

would  go  on  just  as  they  do  now,  only  the  people  would 

know    the   difference   between   them   and   money.      They 

would  still  be  used  in  transferring  money,  and  the  incon- 

imaRinary      venience  imagined  would  not  exist  at  all,  any  more  than 

such   inconvenience  exists  now.     If  a  man  has  a  large 

quantity  of  either  gold  coin  or  silver  coin  paid  to  him  now, 

and  he  chooses  to  have  carts  for  its  transportation  instead 

of  using  bank  checks,  drafts  and  bills,  he  can  do  so,  and 

same    choice  so  he  could  if  the  Congress  and  the  courts  obeyed  the  Con- 
then  as  . 
now.              stitution  of  the  United   States  as  to  money.      No  more 

inconvenience  or  trouble  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other. 
Gold  Solomon  and  Spellbinder  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. If  a  man  had  gold  coin  or  silver  coin,  either 
or  both,  to  transfer  to  his  chosen  place  of  safety,  he  could 
then  do  it  by  check,  draft  or  bill  or  by  cart  as  well  as  he 
can  now. 
The  ladies.  This  "  nursery  tale  "  frightened  many  good  women ; 
they  feared  that  they  would  grow  prematurely  aged  in 
carrying  around  oppressive  loads  of  "  bulky  silver !  " 
Therefore  they  too  abuse  silver.  Et  z'os  quoque,  ladies 
[and  you,  too,  ladies]  !    No;  they  would,  with  the  observ- 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     273 

ance  of  the  Constitution  by  those  who  have  so  solemnly 
sworn  to  observe,  but  now  violate  it,  do  just  as  they  do 
now !  Old  age  would  not  overtake  them  a  moment  sooner 
than  it  does  now  ! 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  a  government,  even  in  those  coun-  if  power 

exists,    no 

tries  in  which  such  power  is  lodged  in  the  government,  moral   right 

1  .  to   change. 

cannot  without  moral  wrong  and  injury  to  the  persons 
governed,  change  its  money.  A  government  has  no  moral  The  whole 
right  to  take  a  man's  money  than  it  has  to  take  his  other  not. 
property.  Likewise  in  our  country  the  whole  people  could 
not,  without  moral  wrong,  change  the  money  to  some 
other  substance  or  thing  without  duly  compensating  those 
who  had  stored  their  labor  in  the  former  money  ;  he  who 
stores  his  labor  in  that  thing  or  those  things  that  his  gov- 
ernment has  said  to  him  should  be  money,  has  just  as 
much  right  to  that  government's  protection  of  that  store 
as  he  who  stores  his  labor  in  lands  or  other  property  has 
the  right  to  the  government's  protection  of  that  land  or 
other  property. 


SECTION    II. 

How  a  Country  Could  Adopt  Money  without  Com- 
mitting Moral  Wrong. 

A  People  Could,  without  Moral  Wrong.  Adopt, 
But  Not  Change  Money. —  A  case  could  perhaps  be 
imagined  in  which  the  people  of  a  country  could,  without 
moral  wrong  to  any  one,  determine  what  should  be  their 
money  without  making  compensation,  but  such  a  case  is 
barely  possible  in  this  stage  of  the  world's  historv.  It  is 
this :  Suppose  a  number  of  people  should  by  some  means 
find  themselves  on  Crusoe  Island,  away  from  all  the  rest  of  rmsoe 
the  world,  and  owing  allegiance  to  no  other  country,  and 
18 


274  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Two  ways. 


desired  to  form  a  government  of  their  own  and  remain 
on  the  island.  Suppose,  too,  that  they  had  nothing  but 
their  bodies  and  souls  and  the  resources  of  the  island,  and 
especially  no  money.  They  could  then  honestly  choose 
and  decree  some  thing  or  things  to  be  money,  because  no 
one  would  be  hurt  by  the  choice.  How  could  this  be  done  ? 
In  two  ways,  as  follows  :  — 

First,  by  law  choosing  some  valuable  thing  or  things 
for  money ;  and 

Second,  by  law  choosing  some  valueless  thing  or  things 
for  money. 

First,  By  Choosing  Some  Valuable  Thing  or 
Things  As  Money. —  In  the  first,  the  procedure  might 
Three  ways.be  in  any  one  of  three  ways,  as  follows:  (a)  Coining  on 
private  account.  First,  by  law  choosing  some  valuable 
thing  or  things,  as  gold  or  silver,  or  both  gold  and  silver, 
providing  for  its  or  their  coinage  into  pieces  suitable  and 
convenient  in  size  and  shape  and  inscription  for  the  trans- 
action of  business,  and  then  further  passing  a  law  that  who- 
ever brought  these  metals,  either  or  both,  to  the  govern- 
ment mint  should  have  them  coined  with  or  without  charge 
seigniorage,  (if  with  charge,  that  charge  would  be  called  seigniorage), 
that  would  make  no  difference,  into  pieces  that  should  be 
money,  have  the  quality  of  tender.  Then  persons  would 
mine,  smelt,  etc.,  and  take  the  products  to  the  mint,  get 
them  coined  into  money,  and  then  pay  their  debts,  and 
the  money  would  thus  soon  get  into  circulation,  and  the 
government  by  taxing  could  get  what  it  needed  of  it. 
Thus  in  a  short  time  money  would  be  in  circulation,  and 
business  progressing.  (b)  Coining  on  public  account. 
The  second  way  might  be  this :  The  government  by  law 
do  all  the  foregoing  things  up  to  the  point  of  saying  bul- 
lion would  be  coined  for  the  persons  presenting  it  to  the 
mint,  and  instead  of  that,  say  it,  the  government,  would 


Private 
owner    puts 
coin  in 
circulation. 


Taxing. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    275 

buy  such  quantity  of  bullion  as  it  deemed   proper,  coin 

it,  and  that  such  coin  should  be  money.     The  government  Govern- 

111  r-  1  11        1  1  11     ">ell<     PHtS 

would  thus  at  first  have  all  the  money,  but  soon  it  would  coin  in  «ir- 

-  .  '.  .         .  .  dilation. 

commence  paying  it  out  tor  services  done  tor  it,  and  soon 

the  money  would  get  into  circulation.     The  government 

under  such  circumstances  should  endeavor  to  see  that  a 

sufficient  supply  of  money  for  the  business  and  trade  of 

the  country  was  obtained.   When  that  amount  was  reached  when  coin- 
ing   should 

it  should  cease  coining,  and  when  the  population,  trade  begin  and 

0  L      l  cease. 

and  business  increased  so  as  to  require  more  money,  the 
government  should  resume  the  coinage.  Thus  always  the 
duty  of  the  government  is  to  see  that  the  supply  of  money 
is  sufficient,  because  that  is  a  matter  that  the  law  controls  Law  controls 

entirely* 

entirely.     Notwithstanding  the  ridicule  the  "fiat  money" 
has  met  with,  there  is  no  other  kind  of  money ;  no  other  No  money 
kind  is  possible,  however  much  ignorance  may  rave  in  money, 
the  interests  of  plutocracy  ! 

Whenever  the  money  was  once  fixed  and  adopted,  it 
would  be  a  moral  wrong  to  change  it  to  something  else 
without  due  compensation  to  those  who  had  stored  their 
labor  in  the  chosen  money.      This   is  plain,   even   if  the 
change  from  one  thing  to  another  thing  as  money  were  change 
pro  bono  publico  [for  the  public  good],  still  to  make  the  publico. 
change  without  due  compensation  to  the  owners  of  the 
former  money  would  be  a  moral  wrong,      (c)   Precious 
metals  royal  metals.     The  third  way  might  be  this :  The 
people,  or  the  king,  if  the  government  were  a  monarchy 
absolute,   declare   from   the  beginning  that  the  thing  or  Royal 
things  chosen  for  money  were  royal  things,  that  is,  the  belong  to 
thing  or  things  that  were  to  be  the  money  should  be  royal  people?     °r 
things,  and  for  that  reason  should  belong  to  the  people, 
or  to  the  "  crown  "  in  case  of  a  monarchy  ;  and   further- 
more, that  all   of  that  thing  or  of  those  things  should 
belong  to  the  people  or  crown  in  whichever  of  the  two 


276  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  sovereignty  rested.  If  gold  or  silver,  or  both,  were 
declared  to  be  the  royal  or  money  metals,  then  that  metal, 
or  both,  as  the  case  might  be,  should  belong  to  the  people 
or  crown,  whether  they  were  found  in  public  or  crown 
lands  or  in  the  lands  of  private  persons.  This  was  the 
law  of  the  European  countries,  including  England ;  that 
is,  mines  of  the  "  royal  metals,"  gold  and  silver,  "  be- 
Govem-         longed,"  as  their  laws  expressed  it,  "  to  the  crown."    Thus 

ment  again  .  1  1  11     1 

puts   money  the  government  or  the  sovereignty  would  own  all  the  raa- 
tion.  terial  of  which  money  could  be  made,  and  could  mine  by 

working,  and  coin  as  it  saw  proper.  If  a  good,  honest  and 
fair  government,  always  having  in  view  the  interests  of 
the  public  and  no  one  person  or  class,  it  could  coin  such 
part  of  the  product  as  it  saw  proper,  pay  the  coins  out  for 
services  to  it,  and  soon  the  money  would  get  into  circu- 
lation, and  then  when  a  sufficient  quantity  for  the  busi- 
ness and  trade  of  the  country  got  into  circulation,  if  the 
government  had  need  for  money,  it  could  get  it  by  taxing. 
onee  coined  In  this  case,  too,  although  the  sovereign,  whether  peo- 
circuiation     pie  or  king,  as  the  case  might  be,  owned  all  the  mines 

becomes  .  ,       .        , 

private  from  which  the  royal  metals  were  or  could  be  obtained, 

yet  when  those  metals  were  once  coined,  made  into  money, 
and  put  into  circulation  by  being  paid  out,  they  would 
become  "  private "  property,  and  the  owners  of  them 
would  have  the  same  right  to  the  protection  of  govern- 
ment for  them  as  would  the  owners  of  any  other  kind  of 

Tautology.  "  private  "  property.  "  Private  "  is  a  tautological  word 
here,  for  property  means  ownership,  coming  from  pro- 
prius,  meaning  one's  own,  private,  not  common. 

worthy  of         in  this  case,  too,  when  the  citizen  or  "  subject  "  had 

protection. 

stored  his  labor  in  money,  the  sovereignty,  whether  in 
king  or  people,  could  not,  without  moral  wrong,  change 
the  money  into  some  other  thing  without  giving  to  him 
who  had  thus  stored  due  compensation.    This,  too,  would 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    277 

be  robbery.     Even  to  debase  that  coin  is  robbery  ;  but  of 
debasing  more  hereafter. 

(2)  Second,  By  Law  Choosing  Some  Valueless 
Thing  As  Money. —  The  second  way  in  which  a  people, 
situated  as  above  imagined,  could  provide  themselves  with 
money  is  this  :  — 

By  law  to  choose   some  valueless  thing  and   legislate 
into  it  the  quality  of  money,  tender.     Suppose  this  thing  valueless 
were  paper  of  a  certain  color  printed  in  a  certain  manner,  Paper. 
and  each  piece  thereof  designated  as  of  a  certain  denom- 
ination.    The  endowment  of  these  pieces  of  paper  with  Tender, 
the  quality  of  tender  would  make  the  situation  such  that 
no  one  could  pay  his  debts  without  these  pieces,  and  there- 
fore instantly  these  pieces  of  mere  paper  would  get  value,  value,  im- 

...  .  ,       ,  ...  ,  .      mense    value 

indeed,  immense  value,  simply  by  reason  of  having  this 

quality ;  and,  if  nothing  else  could  have  the  same  quality, 

and  so  the  law  is  supposed  to  be  made,  then  those  pieces  Become  the 

of  mere  paper  would  be  the  most  valuable  thing  on  the  able  tiling. 

island,  just  as  gold  coin  is  the  most  valuable  thing  with  Gold  coin 

1  ■        1       t  t    ■       1    r.  1  -1  •       most    valu- 

us  here  in  the  United  States  now,  because  with  us  now  m  able  thing 
the  United  States  gold  coin  is  the  only  thing  that  has  the  united 
quality  of  tender.     The  Gold  Solomon's  mere  assertion. 
but  not  with  even  an  attempt  at  proof,  that  the  law  can-  Gold  soi- 
not  make  a  valuable  thing  more  valuable,  or  a  valueless  sense: 

.......  ...  o       11      Spellbinder 

thing  valuable,  is  simply  nonsense,  the  wildest  Spell-  twaddle. 
binder  twaddle.  Even  the  coat,  and  probably  every  article 
of  clothing  the  reader  has  on  his  person  as  he  reads  this 
paragraph,  has  additional  value  legislated  into  it.  A  Legislated 
serious  denial  of  it  would  argue  insanity  in  the  person 
making  the  denial,  or  barefaced  attempt  to  impose  on 
the  credulity  of  the  simple. 

Even  if  the  peculiar  manufacture  of  the  paper  to  pre- 
vent counterfeiting,  etc.,  did  cost  something,  it  would 
make  no  difference  in  the  argument  —  it  would  be  too 
small  for  any  practical  result. 


278  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

This  paper         This  paper  money,  thus  by  law  brought  into  existence, 

money    like  .  ...  f  r. 

public  would,  like  the  public  coinage  mentioned  heretotore,   be 

coinage  .    *"  .  .      ,  . 

mentioned.   -  the  property  of  the  sovereign,  that  is,  ot  the  people  or 
the  "  crown,"  according  to  the  nature  of  government,  that 
is,  whether  democracy  or  monarchy.   And  the  sovereignty, 
through  its  agents  of  government,  would  pay  out  these 
paper  moneys  for  services  rendered  to  it,  and  thus  soon 
this  paper  money  would  get  into  circulation  as  the  tender, 
how  govern- the  debt-paying  power,  the  money  of  the  country.     Then 
back   money. if  the  government  needed  money  for  its  uses,  it  would 
Taxing.  raise  it  by  taxing,  and  thus  get  the  needed  amount  of  the 

same  money  back  into  its  treasury.  If  a  wise  and  just 
government,  it  would  do  so.  For  if,  in  the  first  place,  it 
had  issued  a  sufficient  quantity  of  this  paper  money  to  do 
the  business  and  carry  on  the  trade  of  the  country,  as  it 
should  have  done,  then  to  exercise  its  prerogative  of  sov- 
ereignty to  issue  more  would  make  too  much  money,  as  it 
"Flooding"  js  sometimes  expressed,  "flood"  the  countrv  with  money, 

the     country  '  .  ' 

with  money,  and  thereby  lower  the  value  or  the  purchasing  power  ot 
the  whole  amount,  the  old  issue  of  paper  money  and  the 
"  oid  i8sue."new  issue  of  paper  money.     These  phrases,  "  old  issue  " 
"New issue." and  "  new  issue,"  were  phrases  in  general  use  among  the 
Evils  of.        people  during  the  Civil  War  days.     The  people  of  those 
days  well  understood  how  the  "  old  issue  '•  and  the  "  new 
issue  "  both  fell  in  value ! 
cowardly  It  is  cowardly  and  unjust  for  a  government  to  raise 

money  in  this  manner.  When  a  government  has  issued 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  this  money,  and  compelled  the 
people  thereof  to  take  it  in  payment  of  debts,  thus  storing 
their  labor  in  it,  then  to  issue  more,  say,  double  the  quan- 
tity thereof,  and  thereby  reduce  the  value  of  it  all,  the  old 
as  well  as  the  new,  it  is  gross  injustice  and  moral  wrong 
to  those  owning  the  "  old  issue,"  as  they  by  government 
compulsion  had  to  put  the  results  of  their  labor  therein. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    279 

The  duty  of  the  government  is  to  use  its  utmost  endeavors 
to  keep  the  supply  of  the  money,  that  is,  that  thing  that  it 
has  by  its  laws  ordained  to  be  money,  as  nearly  as  possible 
at  the  exact  amount  needed,  neither  too  little  nor  too 
much,  but  just  the  right  amount.  It  should  carefully 
study  the  situation  of  the  country  as  to  increase  or  de- 
crease of  population,  business,  etc.,  and  keep  its  money  in 
amount  accordingly.     Money  being  a  creature  of  the  law,  Money  a 

a  J  J  a  creature   of 

the  law  should  carefully  guard  the  amount  of  it,  seeing  law. 
that  enough,  but  not  too  much,  is  in  the  country.     This 
can  be  best  done,  as  it  is  wisely  provided  in  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  by  coining  when  money  is 
scarce,  and  ceasing  coining  when  it  is  at  the  right  amount. 
It  can  be  done  in  no  other  way  without  violating  the  said 
Constitution.     For  twenty-five  years  the  silly  cry  against  8>"y  cry. 
"  fiat  "  money  has  filled  the  land,  so  that  if  a  man  speaks 
of  the  law  with  regard  to  money,  he  is  asked  with  sneer- 
ing emphasis,  "  O,  are  you  in  favor  of  fiat  money?  "     As 
if  such  a  contention  were  like  "  the  perpetual-motion  "  or  'm{^J^"U:l1 
the  "sun-do-move"  crochets.     This  one  fact  conclusivelv  "Sun„do 

-     move. 

shows  the  profound,  dense,  gross  ignorance  of  many,  not 
only  in  the  ordinary,  but  also  in  the  high  places,  among 
those  presuming  to  be  leaders  of  the  people.  Blind  guides 
indeed !  Again  let  it  be  repeated  that  there  is  no  money 
but  "  fiat  money."     No  other  is  possible. 

Again  let  the  statement  be  made  that  when  a  govern- 
ment has  made  and  put  in  circulation  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  paper  money  (of  course,  it  is  assumed  that  it  must  be 
in  countries  where  the  government  is  not  limited  by  con- 
stitutional restriction  as  to  making  paper  money),  it  can- 
not without  a  moral  wrong  materially  increase  that  quan- 
tity, as  has  been  heretofore  shown.  To  do  so  would  be 
to  use  the  power  of  government  for  oppressive  and  not 
beneficial  purposes. 


280  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

In  justice  to  Mr.  Chase,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that 
while  secretary  of  the  treasury  he  made  little  investiga- 
tion as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  greenback  statute ; 
but  that  when  the  matter  came  before  him  as  a  judge  or 
justice,  he  made  conscientiously  deeper  investigation,  and 
saw  that  the  statute  that  he  had  recommended  was  in  vio- 
lation of  the  national  Constitution,  and  therefore  void. 
The  matter  should  have  stopped  there,  that  is,  with  the 
correct  decision  of  1869.  But  a  usurper  is  rarely  satisfied  ; 
so  it  was  with  this  usurping  Congress,  it  passed  the 
enactment  increasing  the  bench  of  justice  from  seven  to 
nine ;  and  the  question  was  brought  before  this  nine,  and 
on  the  interpretation  of  this  nine,  or  a  majority  thereof, 
Themis  would,  were  she  not  so  full  of  sorrow  for  its  dire 
consequence  to  the  people,  cast  a  smile  of  derision. 


CHAPTER    XL 

The  Currency. 

SECTION  I. 
General  Remarks. 

The  currency,  those  things  based  on  money,  and  in 
some    sense    representing    it,    but    never    taking   its 
place,  for  mere  currency  never  compulsorily  pays  a 
debt.     Laws,  and  stringent  laws,  too,  should  be  passed  by 

the  competent  authority  to  regulate  the  currency,  so  that  Regulating 
1  jo  -  tlle  .. cur- 

frauds   and   swindles   should  not   be   perpetrated   on   the  rency." 

people. 

The   unscientific,   unconstitutional,   clumsy   and   unjust  rresent  cur- 

i  j   1  rency    law 

system  at  present  in  the  United  States  should  be  changed,  nnscien- 

.  tiflc,  uncon- 

Tliat  that  system  is  bad,  no  thoughtful  and  fair-minded  stitutionai, 

_  clumsy    and 

man    can    doubt.      Its    very    author,    Salmon    P.    Chase,  unjust. 

J  .  Its    author, 

admitted    it   to   be    unconstitutional,    and   that    admission  Salmon  p. 

.         Chase. 

was  made  while  he  occupied  the  exalted  position  of  chief 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  He 
said    that    he    had    while    secretary    of    the    treasury    of  His  admis- 

.  1,1  <-        i         sion,    as    See- 

the    United    States    recommended    the    passage    ot    the  retary  of  the 

greenback   enactment,   and   that  the   greenback   be   made  as  justice  of 

,,  ...  .  .         .  -    the     Supreme 

a   lesral   tender;       but   under   his  oath   as   a    justice   oi  court, 
the  Supreme  Court  he  was  compelled  to  admit  the  Con-  Conceived 

in      illf'^nlitv 

gress  had  no  power  to  make  them  a  "  legal  tender." 
Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  very  conception  of  the  system  was 
in   unconstitutionality,  and   there  is   no   doubt   that   it   is  its  a<ivo- 

,  -    ,        ,  .  .  .  .  .  cates   con- 

destltUte  of  both  economic  science  and  common   justice,  stantiy 

„,  ,  .    .  ,   .  .  tinkering 

1  he  most  strenuous  advocates  of  it  are  at  this  very  time  at  it. 

281 


282  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

seeking  changes  to  be  made  in  it.  Its  ill  effects  appear 
from  time  to  time,  and  then  patch-work  amendments  and 
changes  are  made ;  but  all  to  no  purpose,  the  radical 
wrong  of  the  system  remains,  and  while  that  is  the  case, 
the  financial  "  body  politic "  cannot  be  healthy.  Of 
Great  course,  the  vigorous  strength  of  our  country  in  its  enor- 

resouroes.  ,  "... 

mous  and  vast  extent  and  resources  are  such  that  it  can 

May  fail        stand   much  ;   but   even   those   will   some   dav  be  power- 
some  day ;       ,  ,  ,  111 

then  eaiam-  less  unless  a  better  system  be  adopted. 

ities. 


SECTION  II. 

Debasing  the  Money. 

Of  late  years  we  have  been,  and  at  this  very  time 
are,  hearing  of  "  debasing  the  currency  ;  "  and  these  things 
come  from  those  high  in  governmental  position  and  in 
the  national   councils,   some   in   and  many  out  of  office. 

words  show  The    very    words   used    show    crudeness    and    misunder- 

a'mi  "ini'sun-    standing  of  the  subject. 

derstand-  jjqw    ]yj0NEY    Could    Be    Debased. —  A    government 

could  debase  its  money,  but  how  could  the  government 

debase   its    currency?     The   government   issues,    that   is, 

Debasing       coins,  its  money.     It  could  debase  it,  the  money,  in  two 

money  — 

two  ways,      ways  : 


(  t  )  First,  by  reducing  the  size  of  the  coins.  This  may 
be  done  by  the  Congress  passing  a  law ;  that  is,  under 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  declaring  that  the 
coins  to  be  thereafter  coined  should  be  reduced  in  size  — 
have  less  grains  of  gold  in  them,  of  course,  supposing 
now  that  the  silver  demonetization  enactments  are  con- 
stitutional and  valid.  For  instance,  suppose  the  present 
standard  of  value,  the  gold  dollar,  should  by  a  law  of 
the    Congress   be    arbitrarily    reduced    from    25.8   grains 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    283 
to  12.4  grains,  and  all  the  other  gold  coins  reduced  pro-  Gold  dollar, 

,.  r  .  ...         12.4  grains. 

portionately,  but  the  quality  of  tender  remain  in  the 
new  coin.  Of  course,  one  owing  dollars  could,  by  reason 
of  this  quality  of  tender  in  the  new  coins,  pay  his  debt 
with  them,  and  thus  legally  cheat  his  creditor  out  of  A  cheat. 
one-half  his  just  due.  The  government  owing  debts 
could  do  the  same  thing.  This  would  be  a  gain  to  the 
debtors,  including  the  government  as  a  debtor ;  but  how 
about  the  creditors  who  had  stored  their  labor  in  the 
debts  contracted  under  the  old  coins  ?  Answer  —  robbed  ! 
(2)  Second,  substituting  some  alloy  for  gold  in  the 
coins.  This  second  method  of  debasement  would  be  to 
keep  the  coins  to  be  coined  of  the  same  size  as  the  old 
coins ;  but  put  in  alloy  enough  to  reduce  them  to  one- 
half  the  value  of  the  old  coins  in  pure  gold.  This  would 
in  effect  be  just  the  same  as  the  other,  only  the  cheat 
would  not  be  so  readily  detected ;  and  therefore  it  would  a  meanei 

J  cheat. 

be  a  meaner  cheat. 

This  second  method  of  debasing  —  that  is,  by  putting  in 
base  metal,  but  keeping  the  size  of  the  coin  the  same  — 
is  what  is  generally  understood  by  the  phrase  "  debasing 
the  money,"  or  "  debasing  the  coin ;  "  and  it  is  the  one 
usually  adopted  by  governments  that  swindle  by  "  de- 
basing the  money." 

The  Congress  has  under  the  Constitution  not  only 
the  legal  but  the  sole  right  to  regulate  the  coinage,  and 
it  should  ever  discharge  this  sacred  duty  with  due  regard 
to  justice,  right  and  obligations.  So  great  a  power 
granted  to  the  Congress  for  beneficent  purposes  should 
never  by  the  Congress  be  exerted  for  injustice  or  oppres- 
sion. 

In  the  case   supposed,  the  reduction   has   been  to  the 
extent  of  one-half ;  but,  of  course,  that  could  be  either 
more  or  less,  any  amount  that  the  government  would  be  More  or  less. 
pleased  to  swindle  honest  creditors  out  of. 


284  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


The    method 
of    tyrants. 


Interest 
rates. 


Elasticity. 

Banks 
should   fur- 
nish  circu- 
lation. 


The  foregoing  were  the  methods  used  by  the  tyrants 
of  Europe,  including  England,  in  former  days  to  debase 
their  money  and  swindle  their  subjects.  For  in  addition 
to  what  has  been  said  they  could  call  in  the  old  coin 
and  issue  the  bullion  thereof  in  the  form  of  the  new  coin, 
and  thus  make  the  difference  in  value  between  the  two. 

In  none  of  the  senses  above  mentioned  has  the  coin 
of  the  United  States  ever  been  debased.  There  has  been 
no  debasement  of  the  money  of  the  United  States  of  late 
years,  nor  indeed  at  any  time.  Those  so  stating  betray 
ignorance  of  the  subject. 

President  Roosevelt's  View  of  Money. —  From  the 
message  of  President  Roosevelt  that  appeared  in  the  Con- 
gressional Record  of  Dec.  2,  1902,  page  9,  the  following 
extract  is  made  :  — 

'  Interest  rates  are  a  potent  factor  in  business  activity, 
and  in  order  that  these  rates  may  be  equalized  to  meet 
the  varying  needs  of  the  seasons  and  of  widely  separated 
communities,  and  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  financial 
stringencies  which  injuriously  affect  legitimate  business, 
it  is  necessary  that  there  should  be  an  element  of  elasticity 
in  our  monetary  system.  Banks  are  the  natural  servants 
of  commerce,  and  upon  them  should  be  placed,  as  far  as 
practicable,  the  burden  of  furnishing  and  maintaining  a 
circulation  adequate  to  supply  the  needs  of  our  diversi- 
fied industries  and  of  our  domestic  and  foreign  com- 
merce ;  and  the  issue  of  this  should  be  so  regulated  that 
a  sufficient  supply  should  be  always  available  for  the 
business  interests  of  the  country. 

"  It  would  be  both  unwise  and  unnecessary  at  this  time 
to  attempt  to  reconstruct  our  financial  system,  which  has 


Growth    of 
century. 


ibeen  the  growth  of  a  century 


but  some  additional  legis- 


lation  is,    I    think   desirable.      The  mere   outline   of   any 
plan  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  meet  these  requirements 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    285 

would  transgress  the  appropriate  limits  of  this  commu- 
nication. It  is  suggested,  however,  that  all  future  legisla- 
tion on  the  subject  should  be  with  the  view  of  encouraging 
the   use   of   such   instrumentalities   as   will   automatically  "instru- 

.   .  ,  .        r  .....*     mentalities." 

supply  every  legitimate  demand  ot  productive  industries 
and  of  commerce,  not  only  in  the  amount,  but  in  the 
character  of  circulation ;  and  of  making  all  kinds  of 
money   interchangeable,   and,   at  the   will   of  the   holder,  inter- 

....  ,  11-11  11  11"  ohaii)jeahle 

convertible  into  the  established  gold  standard.  money! 

The  language  of  the  extract  is  so  general  and  vague  Vague 
that  it  is  not  altogether  easy  to  ascertain  what  President 
Roosevelt  really  does  mean.     Some  things,  however,  are 
reasonably  clear,  and  these  show  that  his  views  of  the  The  usual 

r  r  11  fallacious 

subject  are  the  usual  fallacious  and  faulty  views  that  have  views. 
caused  so  much  mischief.     Let  us  attempt  some  analysis 
of  the  extract. 

The  opening  sentence  says  there  should  be  "  an  ele- 
ment of  elasticity  in  our  monetary  system  "  for  two  pur- 
poses, (1)  "in  order  that  those  rates  [interest  rates] 
may  be  equalized  to  meet  the  varying  needs  of  the  seasons 
and  of  widely  separated  communities,"  and  (2)  "to  pre- 
vent the  recurrence  of  financial  stringencies  which  in- 
juriously affect  legitimate  business." 

In  President  Roosevelt's  view  it  seems  that  elasticity  Elasticity, 

111  1  •  •  L       "SeS       °f - 

in  our  monetary  system  is  needed  only  to  equalize  interest 
rates !  Nothing  is  said  about  the  adequacy  of  the  money 
supply  to  meet  the  demands  of  business,  simply  to  equal- 
ize interest  rates,  and  those  rates  are  to  meet  the  needs 
of  "  seasons  and  of  widely  separated  communities  "  and 
prevent    "  financial    stringencies." 

What  clause  of  the  Constitution  gives  to  the  Congress  The  Con- 

gress    has 

the  power  to  equalize  "interest  rates?"     The  Congress,  no  power 

"  '  over     "  inter- 

ior the  purpose  of  creating  an  adequate  supply  of  money,  est  rates." 

is  bv  the  Constitution  given  the  power  to  "  coin  money 


286 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Slakes    the 

Congress 

abdicate. 


Not   safe 
power   for 
banks. 


A  govern- 
mental,   not 
a    corporate, 
power. 


Interest   of 
banks. 


Interest     of 
banks    an- 
tagonistic  to 
public    in- 
terests. 


and  regulate  the  value  thereof."     It  has  no  power  over 
interest  rates;  that  is  a  matter  beyond  its  jurisdiction. 

But  if  the  sentence  referred  to  unduly  extends  the 
power  of  the  Congress  over  "  interest  rates,"  the  next 
sentence  would  make  the  Congress  abdicate  its  legitimate 
constitutional  power  and  duty  over  money  and  give  it 
over  to  the  banks.  Upon  the  banks,  he  says,  "  should  be 
placed,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  burden  of  furnishing 
and  maintaining  a  circulation  adequate,"  etc.  The  Con- 
stitution makes  it  the  duty  of  the  Congress  to  provide 
an  adequate  supply  of  money,  for  it  gives  that  body  the 
power  "  to  coin  money,"  much  if  much  is  needed,  and 
little  if  little  is  needed.  If  it  were  proper  and  safe  that 
the  banks  should  have  the  power  to  furnish  an  adequate 
supply  of  money,  it  is  believed  that  the  Constitution 
framers  would  have  given  it  to  them.  But  they  did  not 
give  it  to  them.  They  knew  this  very  great  power  should 
be  a  governmental  power,  seated  in  some  division  or 
department  of  the  government ;  but  President  Roosevelt 
thinks  this  tremendous  power  should  be  in  private  hands, 
and  the  hands  of  corporations  at  that !  Give  to  the  banks 
the  power  to  furnish  an  adequate  supply  of  money,  and 
they  will  deem  a  small  supply  adequate,  because  it  is 
to  their  interest  to  do  so.  This  appears  from  the  follow- 
ing: Interest  is  one  great  source  of  profits  to  banks. 
High  rates  of  interest  give  them  large  profits,  and  low 
rates  of  interest  small  profits.  A  large  supply  of  money 
gives  small  rates  of  interest,  and  a  small  supply  of  money 
gives  large  rates  of  interest.  Hence  it  is  the  interest  of 
banks  to  have  a  small  supply  of  money.  The  president, 
it  seems,  would  put  this  matter  in  the  control  of  the 
banks,  and  the  interest  of  the  banks  therein  is  in  antago- 
nism to  the  interest  of  the  public  at  large.  The  Congress 
should  not  abdicate  its  function  and  duty  in  this  respect 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    287 

and  turn  it  over  to  the  banks  or  to  any  other  institution. 
It  should  discharge  its  constitutional  duty  of  furnishing 
an  adequate  supply  of  money  for  the  country;  and  if  the 
banks  wish  to  deal  and  trade  in  this  money,  let  them 
do  so,  but  the  proper  authority  must  enact  suitable  law  s 
to  govern  the  banks  in  their  dealing  and  trade. 

In  the  next  section  he  exhibits  economic  and  historical 
error.  He  says,  "  It  would  be  both  unwise  and  unneces- 
sary at  this  time  to  attempt  to  reconstruct  our  financial 
system,  which  has  been  the  growth  of  a  century ;  but  some 
additional  legislation  is,  I  think,  desirable." 

First,  the  present  financial  system  is  not  the  growth 
of  a  century.     It  had  no  existence  until    1861  ;  then   it  Historical 

•>  error. 

began  with  the  greenback  blunder  and  other  blunders  ; 
and  in  1873  the  system  was  further  vitiated  by  the  silver 
demonetization  blunder.  So  that  the  present  system  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  began  in  1873,  and  is  the  growth 
of  only  about  thirty  years  instead  of  a  century.  It  is 
the  mushroom  growth  of  thirty  years  of  congressional 
unwisdom,  and  not  the  steady  growth  of  a  century  of 
wisdom.  President  Roosevelt,  however,  does  admit  that 
"  some  legislation  is  .  .  .  desirable."  This  verifies  the 
statement  herein  made  that  the  advocates  of  our  present 
financial  system  keep  constantly  "  tinkering  "  at  it.  The 
system  is  vicious  ;  and  when  the  evil  results  appear  from 
time  to  time  in  its  practical  workings,  its  advocates  tinker  Tinker  and 

...  ...  tinker   and 

and  tinker  and  tinker  at  it,  hoping  thus  to  appease  those  tinker. 
injured  by  it,  the  people. 

Second,  the  economic  errors  involved  are  the  errors  Economic 
exposed  in  this  work.  Why  is  it  "  both  unwise  and  un- 
necessary at  this  time  to  attempt  to  reconstruct"  it? 
The  sooner  error  in  finance  or  elsewhere  dies,  the  better; 
it  deserves  not  the  shield  of  time  or  other  protection. 
Error  should  be  supplanted  by  truth. 


errors. 


•88 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Too  general.  The  last  sentence  of  the  extract  is  too  general  to  be 
valuable.  It  is  about  equal  to  saying-  that  he  thinks  a 
good  system  should  be  adopted.  If  that  is  the  meaning, 
it  would  be  given  hearty  concurrence ;.  but  we  should 
first  examine  to  see  if  it  be  good  —  if  that  is  the  meaning. 

The  following  is  noticeable  :  "  It  is  suggested,  however, 
that  all  future  legislation  on  the  subject  should  be  with 
the  view  of  encouraging  the  use  of  such  instrumentalities 
as  will  automatically  supply  every  legitimate  demand  of 
productive  industries  and  of  commerce,  not  only  in  the 
amount,  but  in  the  character  of  circulation  ;  and  of  mak- 
ing all  kinds  of  money  interchangeable,  and,  at  the  will 
of  the  holder,  convertible  into  the  established  gold  stand- 
ard." 

What  a  view  of  money  and  of  congressional  power  is 
presented  here !  Congressional  legislation  should  be  with 
the  view  to  encourage  the  use  of  "  such  instrumentalities 
as  will  automatically  supply  every  legitimate  demand," 
etc.  What  "  instrumentalities  "  could  by  the  Congress 
be  encouraged?  Congress  can  supply  the  demands  for 
money  by  coining  gold  coins  and  silver  coins  as  needed. 
Why  should  the  Congress  abdicate  its  legitimate  power 
under  the  Constitution  to  coin  money,  silver  and  gold, 
the  natural  and  proper  mode  of  supplying  money,  and 
usurp  the  modes  of  supposed  supplying  that  are  uncon- 
stitutional as  well  as  unscientific,  and  those  modes  that 
have  led  to  the  present  lamentable  and  absurd  condition 
of  our  financial  system?  The  congressional  power  is  the 
coining  power  and  no  other. 

Again,  according  to  President  Roosevelt's  view,  the 
"  congressional  legislation  should  be  with  the  view  .  .  . 
of  making  all  kinds  of  money  interchangeable,  and,  at 
the  will  of  the  holder,  convertible  into  the  established 
gold  standard."     "All  kinds  of  money  interchangeable!  " 


"  Instru- 
mental- 
ities." 


Legitimate 
power. 


Usurped 
power. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     289 
How  manv  kinds  of  moncv  are  there  ?  —  But  one,  gold  How  many 

.  kind-,    of 

coin,  if  silver  demonetization  is  constitutional  and  valid  ;  money? 
and  how  could  those  coins  be  otherwise  than  interchange- 
able?    If   he   means,   as   it  seems,  that  all  those  things 
commonly  called  money,  but  are  not  money, —  (1)   silver 
coins,    (2)    silver  certificates,    (3)    gold   certificates,    (4) 
treasury   certificates,    (5)    national   bank  notes,   and    (6) 
greenbacks, —  are  money,  what  a  lamentable  and  absurd 
mistake    for    one    to    make    who    is    in    position    of    so 
great   power!      As   stated  elsewhere,    should   those    sub- 
stitutes  for  money   amount  to  five   hundred   dollars   per 
capita,    President    Roosevelt    would,    under   his    view    of 
money,   have  to  call  them  all   money.     Think   again   of 
redeeming  money   with   money !    keeping   money   in   the 
vaults  of  the  national  treasury  to  redeem  money !     What 
could  be  more  absurd?    And  again  making  such  money, 
"  at   the   will   of  the   holder,   convertible   into  the  estab- 
lished gold  standard."    Why  should  money  be  convertible 
into  money !     Of  course,  the  parity  in  the  money  should 
be   maintained,   that   is,   when   there   are   more   kinds   of 
money   in   a   country   than   one ;   but   when   there   is   but 
one  kind  of  money  and  many  kinds  of  substitutes  there- 
for, then  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  parity.     But  in  rarity. 
such  case,  and  even  when  there  is  but  one  kind  of  sub- 
stitute   therefor,    then    there    should    be    stringent    laws 
passed   by   the   proper   authority   to   prevent  any   person 
or   persons,    corporate   or   otherwise,    from    issuing    sub- 
stitutes for  money  that  they  cannot  redeem  in  money  at 
any   moment    on    demand.      While    detailed    plans    of    a 
proper  financial  system  cannot  be  entered  into  here,  yet 
this  remark  is  made  that  it  should  be  a  criminal  offense  criminal 
to  issue  more  substitutes  for  money  than  the  issuer  can 
redeem  at  any  moment  in  money. 
19 


offense. 


290  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

SECTION  III. 

Inflating  the  Currency. 

Money  can  be  debased  and  currency  can  be  inflated. 
How  ?  For  money,  the  method  has  been  shown ;  for  cur- 
rency, the  method  will  be  told.  Should  the  reader  sup- 
pose this  a  mere  logomachy,  a  mere  distinction  in  words 
but  with  no  justifiable  distinction  in  things,  then  he,  in 
reading,  these  pages,  has  "  spent  his  strength  for  naught," 
and  the  author  in  writing  them  has  quoad  [as  to]  him 
"  labored  in  vain." 

If  the  reader  will  refer  to  those  pages  of  Part  II  detail- 
ing the  imaginary  history  of  Micropolis,  he  will  see  how 
the  red  paper  currency,  the  blue  paper  currency,  etc.,  etc., 
were  issued,  and  also  the  result ;  how  easily  under  the 
Mr.  Nagrom.  system    Mr.    Nagrom    legally   obtained    all    the   property 
(including  the  money)   of  that  unfortunate  island.     The 
process  was  simple :  every  time  a  new  paper  currency, 
to  wit,  the  green,  yellow,  etc.,  etc.,  was  added,  the  cause 
increasing      of  Mr.  Nagrom  was  made  the  more  easy.     At  each  such 
betrve*en'ereaiissue  the  difference  between  the   real  and  the  apparent 
ent  measure  measure  of  value  was  by  it  made  wider ;  and,  of  course, 
facilitated  the  accomplishment  of  Mr.  Nagrom's  purpose. 
lunation  So  in  the  United  States  at  this  time  we  have  a  large 

of  currency.  currenCy  inflation,  but  no  debasement  of  money.  Indeed, 
instead  of  "  debasement  "  of  money  just  the  opposite  has 
contraction  taken  place.  There  is  an  undue  as  well  as  unconstitu- 
tional contraction  of  the  money  of  the  country.  Before 
1873  the  quality  of  money,  tender,  existed  in  the  silver 
coins  as  well  as  in  the  gold  coins ;  after  that  period, 
through  the  illegal  enactments  of  the  Congress,  that 
quality,  to  wit,  money,  tender,  was  withdrawn  from  the 
silver  coins,  thus  unduly  contracting  the  money  of  the 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    291 
country.     To  right  that  wrong,  to  remedy  tins  evil,  by  n0  debase- 

'        ..  ,  ...  ...         nient,    but 

restoring  to  the  silver  coins   their  constitutional   quality  righting  a 

r  i-ii  r  ...       a    wrong. 

ot  money,  tender,  is  no  debasement  01  money,  neither  is  x0  inflation 

.    ri     ■  r    t  t     •     i-i  ■  1       1  °f   currency. 

it  an  inflation  of  the  currency,     it  is  like  setting  a  broken  Setting  a 

.  .  ,     r  *.,,  ,,  ....      broken  leg. 

leg;  some  pain  and  fever  will  naturally  result,  but  it  is 
better  for  the  patient  in  the  end.  When  the  "  silver 
men  "  are  charged  with  the  evil  that  might  come  from 
the  restoration  of  silver  coin  as  money,  as  tender,  it  would 
be  as   unreasonable  as  to   charge   upon  the  surgeon  the  Charge 

1  rr      •  •    •  r  1  r         i       i  surgeon   in- 

pain  and  suffering  arising  from  the  setting  of  a  broken  stead  of 
leg !  No ;  the  fellow  that  broke  the  leg  is  responsible. 
In  this  case  the  Gold  Solomon  silver  demonetizers  are 
responsible  for  all  the  evil  that  may  occur.  When  the 
Gold  Solomon  complains  of  debasing  the  money  or 
"  debasing  the  currency,"  as  they  call  it,  and  asks  the 
people  to  have  mercy  on  the  poor  silver-demonetizing 
gold  owners,  it  reminds  one  of  the  man  who  murdered  his 
father  and  mother,  and  when  sentence  was  about  to  be 
pronounced  upon  him  for  the  murders,  begged  the  court  "  The  poor 
to  have  mercy  upon  a  poor  orphan ! 

Illustrative  Incident. —  In  the  campaign  of  1896 
the  writer  met  an  old  friend,  who  had  from  his  youth  up 
been  a  strict  party  man,  but  who  at  that  time  was  a  "  gold 
man  "  and  marching  in  "  gold  processions."  He  asked 
the  cause,  and  was  told,  the  "  money  question."  He  then, 
after  some  conversation,  asked  his  friend  if  he  did  not 
believe  the  country  would  be  better  by  returning  to  the 
double  standard,  making  gold  coin  and  silver  coin  money. 
His  answer  was,  "  Yes ;  the  country  would  be  far  better 
after  about  two  years.  But  in  the  mean  time  the  great  Hard  times 
'  gold  men  '  would  produce  '  hard  times,'  and  much  evil  years."0 
would  result."  He  then  asked  if  it  would  not  be  better 
even  to  suffer  those  two  years  of  "  hard  times  "  than  to 
suffer  ages  upon  ages   with  slavery  in  view  at  the  last.  ^T.  up°n 


292  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


March  in 
procession 


But  he  made  no  impression  upon  his  friend's  mind. 
About  a  year  after  the  election  he  was  looking  over  the 
papers  from  that  part  of  the  country,  and  saw  an  account 
of  his  friend's  going  through  bankruptcy.  The  inference 
was  that  a  year  ago  he  was  marching  in  "  gold  proces- 
sions "  in  order  to  get  credit  with  the  "  gold  men,"  hop- 
ing by  hard  struggling  to  tide  over  his  troubles  and  con- 
tinue his  business.  But  the  hope  was  delusive.  The 
bankruptcy,  though  delayed  some,  still  speedily  came. 
The  Gold  Solomons  had  made  him  march  in  their  pro- 
cessions before  the  election  and  out  of  his  premises  after 
the  election !  Poor  deluded  man !  You  have  thousands 
upon  thousands  like  you  in  this  country  now.  You  adopt 
the  apparent  measure  of  value,  and  attempt  to  do  business 
thereby ;  but  evil  will  overtake  you.  Marching  in  gold 
before  eiec-  processions  may  save  you  during  election  times,  but   it 

tion;     out     of  .  . 

premises        will  not  afterward  ! 

after 

The  Difference  Between  Money  and  Currency. — 
The  difference  between  money  and  currency  is  this: 
Money  is  the  tender  of  a  nation ;  currency  is  that  which 
in  a  nation  circulates  by  consent,  but  not  by  compulsion. 
Money  has  the  law  behind  it ;  currency  only  the  individual 
man  or  corporation.  Money  is  the  more  comprehensive 
term,  it  has  all  the  qualities  of  currency  and  one  in  addi- 
tion, to  wit,  tender.  Currency  is  the  more  extensive 
term  ;  it  has  fewer  qualities,  and  therefore  applies  to  more 
objects.  In  the  United  States  now  (silver-demonetization 
acts  being  held  valid  and  greenbacks  being  redeem- 
Extension      able  in  gold  coin) ,  the  extension  of  money  is  to  but  one 

of    mouey     is     .   .  .  ...  ....  .  .      , 

1;   extension  object,   to  wit,   gold   coins ;   while   the   extension   of  the 

of    currency  .  .   .  ■        /     \  1  1  •  /•     n 

is  7.  currency  is  to  seven  objects,  to  wit,   (i)   gold  coins,  (2) 

silver  coins,  (3)  gold  certificates,  (4)  silver  certificates, 
(5)  treasury  certificates,  (6)  national  bank  notes,  (7) 
greenbacks.     Thus  we  have  a  logical  and  scientific  ex- 


"  Compre- 
hension." 


"  Exten- 
sion." 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views     293 

pression  and  statement  of  the  subject.  In  none  of  the 
works  that  the  author  has  read  on  the  subject  is  there 
even  an  attempt  to  state  the  distinctions  in  the  term 
in  class  and  subclass,  pointing  out  the  "  comprehension  " 
and  "  extension  "  of  each,  that  is,  in  logical  and  scientific 
method;  but  simply  a  jumble  of  deceptive  phrases  that 
give  no  clear  notions  on  the  subject,  and  are  of  very 
little  if  any  value,  and  in  many  cases  the  same  author  in 
different   places    contradicting  himself.      Such   treatment  Confusing 

1  °  and    darken- 

confuses  and  darkens  rather  than  methodizes  and  clears  »ng  treat- 
ment. 

the  subject;  and  in  the  end,  by  misleading  would-be 
statesmen,  brings  disaster  to  nations. 

The  Evils  of  the  Present  System. —  In  America  at 
the  present  time  the  evils  of  this  sevemheaded  monster  of  Seven- 

...  .  .         .  r      .  headed 

a  currency  is  appalling.  At  every  agitation  of  the  ques-  monster. 
tion  a  new  head  was  added  to  the  monster,  but  no  remedy 
for  its  ravages  was  afforded.  When  the  money  of  the 
country  was  reduced  to  gold  coin, —  and  that  was  in  the 
discussion  of  the  subject  shown  to  be  insufficient  to  do 
the  business  and  carry  on  the  trade  of  the  country,- — 
instead  of  broadening  the  money,  extending  it  back  to 
the  silver  coins  as  the  Constitution  says  it  shall  be,  they  Adding 
would  add  heads  to  the  gold  monster  as  follows :  — 

(1)  The  head   of   demonetized    fractional   silver   coin,  Fractional 

......  .  .  .  silver     head. 

limited   111   the   quality   of  tender,   that   is,   of   money,   to  silver  dollar 

....  .  head. 

ten  dollars  in  any  one  transaction. 

(2)  The    head    of    demonetized    silver    dollar,    limited  "Cable 
in    the   quality   of  tender,   that    is,    monev,   to   what   the  "Cart 

Font*." 

creditor  says  he  will  take,  giving  to  the  creditor  a  "  cable 
tow,"  "cart  rope,"  to  pull  the  quality  of  tender  out  of 
the  dollar. 

(3)  The  head  of  gold   certificates,  having  no  quality  Gold  eer- 
of  tender  between  man  and  man  whatever.  head." 

(4)  The  head  of  silver  certificates,  havino-  no  quality  Warenonse 

0  '  •     receipts. 


294  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

of  tender  whatever,  being  nothing  more  than  a  warehouse 
receipt,  saying  that  whoever  deposits  a  certain  quantity 
of  silver  in  the  United  States  silver  depository  can  draw 
it  out  again,  on  presenting  and  surrendering  the  receipt ! 
The  people  of  Nevada  were  told  when  this  head  was 
added    to   the   monster    that    "  it    was    better    than    free 


coinage 


!  I  " 


Treasury  (5)   The  head  of  treasury  certificate,  with  no  quality  of 

head.ca  e  tender,  and  no  value  to  any  one  but  clearing-house  clerks. 
houVe'Tierks.  (6)  The  head  of  the  national  bank  notes,  with  no 
bank  notes    quality  of  tender  except  to  the   movable   spawning  bed 

head,     tender      ,  '.         -  .  . 

to  itself.        wherein  they  were  issued. 

Greenback  (/)   The  head  of  the  greenbacks,  with   the  extensive 

sometimes  unconstitutional  quality  of  tender  legislated  into  them  by 
sometimes      a  usurping  Congress,  and  upheld  therein  by  a  nebulous 

and  mistaken  Supreme  Court,  but  again  crushed  out  of 

them  by  anarchic  executive  power. 
Little  Lastly,  an  additional  eighth,  the  little  nickel-plate  head, 

nickel-plate  .  .  ....  .  .    .. 

head.  with  no  quality  of  tender,  none  in  pretense  even,  and  it 

it  was  so  pretended,  no  shadow  of  ground  for  it  in  the 
real  law  of  the  country,  the  Constitution. 

At  each  agi-       EACH     HEAD     INCREASES    THE    EVIL. As     was    Stated, 

head   given,  at  each  agitation  they  gave  the  people  another  head  for 
their  monster,  the  golden  idol,  told  them  that  it  was  bet- 
ter than   "  free  coinage,"  and  the  people  worshiped  and 
thought  themselves  the  favored  ones  of  their  great  god. 
Difference  Of  course,  as  each  head  was  added,  the  difference  be- 

and  appar-    tween  the  real  and  the  apparent  measure  of  value  of  the 

ent     measure  .  . 

widened.        country  was  increased  and  widened,  and  the  evils  result- 
ing from  such  an  increase  augmented. 

"  Executive        To  make  this  even  more  clear,  if  possible,  let  us  sup- 
certificate  "  1  •      •  1  1       , 
head.             pose  another  agitation  and  another  head  added,  say.  that 

"  Consres-        f  ° 

sionai  cer-     it  be  an  "  executive  certificate  "  head ;  and  another,  say, 

tificate  " 

head.  "  congressional  certificate  "  head ;  and  another,  say,  "  Su- 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    295 

preme  Court  certificate"  head,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  until  there  "Supreme 
should  be  five  hundred  so-called  dollars  per  capita  in  the  cate "   head, 
country,   would   that   help   matters?     Would   there   be   a  capita. 
single  dollar  more  of  money  in  the  country?  —  No;  not 
one.     All   those   things  would   be   evils,   heads  added  to 
the  monster.     The  way  to  do  is  to  increase  the  money, 
not  its  substitutes !     In  other  words,  follow  the  Consti- 
tution   of    the    United    States  —  our    Constitution ;    coin 
silver  and  gold  when  it  is  needed,  and  stop  the  coinage 
when  it  is  not  needed ;  and  then  on  this  coinage  let  the 
proper  authority  enact  proper,  suitable  and  safe  banking  safe  bank- 

,  iim    laws. 

laws. 

Following  is  a  speech  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury 
of  the  United  States  made  during  the  campaign  of  1902, 
as  reported  in  the  Commoner  of  Aug.  29,   1902:  — 

'  Financial  Volcano. —  In  last  week's  Commoner  at- 
tention was  called  to  Mr.  Wellman's  report  of  an  inter- 
view with  a  cabinet  officer,  now  known  to  be  Secretary 
Shaw.  It  is  putting  it  mildly  to  say  that  the  interview 
has  created  a  profound  impression,  but  the  impression 
is  not  exactly  the  kind  that  was  intended.  The  evident 
purpose  of  the  interview  was  to  frighten  tariff  reform 
Republicans  by  the  threat  of  a  panic,  but  the  facts  given 
have  startled  the  country.  Secretary  Shaw  shows  that 
even  with  an  unexpected  increase  of  five  hundred  million 
dollars  in  the  circulation,  the  farmers'  deposits  have  to  be 
loaned  over  and  over  again  to  furnish  a  basis  for  the 
boasted  prosperity.  According  to  Mr.  Wellman,  Secre- 
tary  Shaw   says :  — 

'  Let  me  give  you  some  facts  without  comment.  You 
go  out  to  the  farmers  and  ask  them  how  they  are  getting 
on.  They  will  tell  you  that  they  were  never  before  so 
prosperous.  They  are  out  of  debt  and  have  plenty  of 
money.     Ask  them  where  their  money  is  and  they  will 


296  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

tell  you  it  is  in  the  local  banks.  Call  at  the  country  banks 
and  inquire  into  their  condition,  and  their  officers  will 
tell  you  they  are  all  right.  Money  plentiful  and  reserves 
above  40  per  cent.  'Where  is  your  money?'  'Oh,  it  is 
in  the  banks  of  Omaha,  Minneapolis,  Kansas  City,  etc' 
Next  you  go  to  the  bankers  in  Omaha,  Kansas  City 
and  Minneapolis,  and  they  will  tell  you  the  same  thing. 
They  are  in  good  shape ;  reserves  35  per  cent.  '  Where 
is  your  money  ? '  'In  Chicago.'  Now  go  to  Chicago. 
Same  story.  Banks  all  right.  Reserves  30  per  cent. 
But  the  money  is  in  New  York. 

Finally,  pursuing  your  inquiries  in  New  York,  you 
will  find  that  both  deposits  and  loans  have  been  enormous. 
The  money  is  not  in  the  banks.  There  are  only  six 
national  banks  in  New  York  that  have  not  been  below 
their  legal  reserves  since  January  1.  You  want  to  know 
where  this  money  is?  Well,  $450,000,000  is  loaned  by 
national  banks  on  the  bonds  of  industrial  corporations. 
These  corporations  issued  bonds  instead  of  stocks  because 
the  national  banks  can  take  the  former  and  can't  take 
the  latter.  Intrinsically  they  are  no  better  than  stocks. 
In  most  of  them  there  has  been  a  lot  of  water-curine. 
Here  you  see  where  $450,000,000  of  the  country's  surplus 
stands  against  a  lot  of  undigested,  promotion-produced 
securities.  The  trust  companies  have  put  out  millions 
more  in  the  same  way. 

'  That  is  where  we  stand.  It  is  all  rio-ht  as  lone 
as  it  is  all  right.  But  I  don't  want  to  see  anything  hap- 
pen. I  don't  want  to  see  these  industrials  begin  to  topple 
over,  to  fall  against  one  another  and  come  down  in  a 
heap  like  children's  play-blocks.  And  this  is  one  reason 
why  I  am  opposed  to  a  tariff  revision  agitation  that  might 
start  things  going  the  wrong  way.' 

'  What  will  the  depositors  think  of  the  prospect  ?    What 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    297 

will  be  the  natural  effect  of  the  suggestion  that  any 
attempt  to  compel  honest  business  methods  will  precip- 
itate a  panic  and  cause  a  failure  of  the  banks?  If  the 
depositors  begin  to  draw  their  money  out  of  the  local 
banks  and  the  country  banks  begin  to  reduce  their  city 
reserves  to  a  minimum,  Secretary  Shaw  will  be  more 
to  blame  than  any  one  else.  If  any  Democrat  had  re- 
flected half  as  seriously  upon  the  financial  standing  of 
the  banks  he  would  have  been  denounced  as  an  alarmist 
and  accused  of  having  a  grudge  against  the  banks,  but 
Secretary  Shaw  is  at  the  head  of  the  treasury  depart- 
ment, and  is  both  in  close  touch  and  in  full  sympathy 
with  the  financiers.  When  he  declares  that  we  are  doing 
business  on  top  of  a  financial  volcano, —  a  regular  Mont 
Pelee, —  his  statement  must  be  taken  as  a  reluctant  admis- 
sion of  a  condition  that  he  would  have  gladly  concealed. 

"  This  is  Republican  prosperity !  And  to  what  will 
Republicans  attribute  the  precarious  condition?  Does  a 
protective  tariff  put  the  country  in  a  position  where  gross 
injustice  and  high-handed  extortion  must  be  meekly  sub- 
mitted to  as  the  alternative  of  a  panic?  If  so,  who  can 
defend  a  protective  tariff  ? 

"  Does  the  trust  system  render  the  people  helpless  and 
make  them  impotent  to  protest  against  watered  stock 
and  fictitious  capitalization?  If  so,  who  can  defend  the 
trust  system? 

"  Does  the  gold  standard  supply  such  an  insufficient 
quantity  of  money  that  the  reserves  must  be  loaned  and 
reloaned  until  our  banking  institutions  resemble  the  blocks 
in  a  child's  playhouse?  If  so,  who  will  say  that  we  must 
accept  the  gold  standard  as  a  final  settlement  of  the 
financial  question?  If  this  is  the  condition  of  our  banks, 
who  will  advocate  an  asset  currency  or  say  that  a  bank 
note  is  better  than  a  greenback?  " 


298  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

The  foregoing,  from  the  lips  of  Mr.  Secretary  Shaw, 
shows  our  present  alarming  condition ;  and  if  the  reader 
will  turn  to  pages  36  to  4.4  of  this  work,  he  will  see  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  Secretary  Gage  the  wisdom  that  ruled  in 
this  department  of  the  government  of  the  great  republic 
during  his  management  thereof.  Thus  we  have  here 
the  late  past  and  the  immediate  present  financial  wisdom 
and  policy  of  our  beloved  country.  Alas !  All  based 
on  ignorance  of  what  money  is,  and  also  ignorance  of  the 
true  meaning  of  the  national  Constitution  on  the  subject 
of  money. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Battle  That  Should  Have  Been  Fought. 
The  Suit  That  Should  Have  Been  Brought. 
Can  The  Lesson  Even  Now  Be  Taught  ? 
Can  the  Remedy  Even  Now  Be  Wrought? 

SECTION  I. 
The  Battle  That  Should  Have  Been  Fought. 

The  Speech  That  Was  Never  Made. —  (i)  First, 
had  there  in  1873  been  a  single  man  in  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States,  in  either  the  Senate 
or  the  House  of  Representatives,  who  understood  the 
Constitution  of  his  country,  and  possessed  the  honesty 
and  courage  to  stand  up  and  fight  for  it,  the  battle  might 
have  been  won  by  a  five,  and  at  most  a  twenty-minute,  rive-min- 

ill*1   s  1 11  ■  1  ■  ( T 1 

speech!  A  simple  reading  of  clause  1  of  section  10  of 
article  1,  to  wit,  "  No  State  shall  make  anything  but 
gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts,"  and 
the  remark  that  the  proposed  enactment  said  that  the 
State  shall  not  do  that,  would  or  ought  to  have  killed 
the  measure  and  won  the  battle. 

From  1878  to  1896. —  (2)  Second,  when  it  was  found 
that  that  opportunity  was  unfortunately  let  slip,  then  the 
next  was  the  period  of  1878  and  after  on  to  1896.  Then 
no  compromise  measures  should  have  been  even  enter-  No  com- 
tained,  but  a  firm,  steadfast  fight  for  the  right,  with  no 
wavering  or  flinching,  should  have  been  kept  up.  The 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  regarding  money  and  their 
history   should   have  been  read,   commented  on   and   ex- 

299 


300  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


The    pro- 
vision   and 
its   history. 


plained,  so  that  he  who  had  "  ears  to  hear  "  and  mind 
to    understand   could   have   heard   and    understood ;    and 
appeal    should    have   been    made    to    the    consciences    of 
senators  and  representatives  to  observe  and  keep  the  oath 
that  each  one  of  them  respectively  had  taken  on  entering 
upon   the   duties  of  his  office.     That  oath   was  that  he, 
there  in  his  place  in  Senate  or  House  and  anywhere  he 
might  be.  would  "  support,  protect  and  defend  "  the  said 
Constitution.    When  such  appeal  to  conscience  was  made, 
if  the  "  cloak  room  "  should  be  filled  with  members,  and 
the  question  asked,  "  When  will  the  idiot   [meaning  the 
member  making  the  appeal]   get  through?"  then  let  the 
people   of   the   whole   country   know,   and   not   the   Gold 
Solomons  only,  that  already  the  country  has  passed  from 
constitutional  government  to  congressional  tyranny,  and 
that  appeal  to  conscience  will  not  be  permitted.     In  that 
appeal  it  should  have  been  shown  that  the  oath  "  to  sup- 
port, protect   and   defend,"   and   the   requirement  of  the 
citizen's  allegiance  that  he  should  "  support,  protect  and 
defend,"  did  not  mean  that  Constitution  as  the  member 
As  it  is,  not  or  citizen  wanted  it  to  be,  but  as  the  framers  wanted  it 
wanted.         and  intended  it  to  be, —  that  Constitution  as  those  who 
framed   it  intended,  together  with   such   amendments   as 
had  been  duly  made  to  it.     Interpreting  other  things  into 
it  than  those  the  framers  put  into  it  or  interpreting  things 
out  of  it  that  the  framers  put  into  it,  were  equally  viola- 
The  people    tive    of   the    said    oath.      The   people,    when    the    matter 

can    see   this. 

Kemem-  is  laid  before  them,  can  see  this ;  and  they  will  remember 
any  man  who  thus  violates  his  oath,  whether  that  man  be 

History.  living  or  dead.  History,  too,  will  remember  him ;  and 
even  the  bad  in  acts  do  not  like  to  be  called  bad.     Even 

Often  nothing 


Oath   of 
olliee. 


"  Cloak 

room." 

"  Idiot  get 

through." 


From   con- 
st itutional 
govern- 
ment   to 
Congress  - 
sional 
tyranny. 


Interpret- 
ing   in   and 
interpret- 
ing  out. 


The  bad  like  the  bad  like  to  be  called  by  good  names. 

good    names.  .  . 

is  so  effective  as  calling  an  act  by  its  proper  name 


If 


the  act  is  good  and  the  name  given  to  it  is  also  good, 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    301 
then  that  stimulates  to  further  good  acts  ;  hut  if  the  act  Good    names 

...  .      ,       a     stimulus: 

is   had,    uniust,   wrong:  or   infamous,   then    calling   it    bv  bad  a  deter- 
those  names  deters  from  future  had,  unjust,  wrong  and 
infamous  acts,   as   well  as  tends  to  correct  and   remedy 
the  former  acts  of  that  character. 

So   it   is    believed   would    it   have   been   here   had    the 
battle  been  thus  fought. 

From   1896  to   1900. —  The  third  period  is  the  period 
of  the   "  campaigns  "  of   1896  and    1900.      In   these   the 
fight  was  open,  in  the  light ;  before,  it  had  been  concealed.  In  "*<*  "km. 
in  the  dark.     When  the  first  Democratic  president  for  a  Democratic 

President     in 

long  time  was  elected, —  that  is.  in  1884, —  the  great  mass  1884. 
of  the  people  thought  him  a  "  silver  man,"  and  on  this 
belief  some  leaders  of  his  party  wrote  to  him  soliciting 
some  aid  to  the  "  silver  cause  "  before  his  "  inaugura- 
tion "  into  office.  His  response  to  the  letter  showed  him 
to  be  against  the  "  silver  cause  "  instead  of  for  it !  This 
was  a  source  of  deep  regret  and  mortification  to  the 
friends  of  silver.  The  silver  question  was  one  of  the 
main  questions  in  the  campaign,  and  it  is  believed  that 
fair  and  candid  conduct  would  have  caused  the  nom- 
inee of  the  party  to  have  let  his  views  on  the  silver  ques- 
tion be  known  before  his  nomination  and  election.  This 
was  a  severe  blow  to  the  "  silver  men," — the  silver  men 
of  all  parties.  Some  silver  men  seem  to  have  surrendered 
their  principles  by  reason  of  defeat,  but  thousands  still 
stand  firm  in  the  battle  for  the  right. 

The   Democratic   partv   then   proceeded   undaunted    to  Democratic 

....         ,  r        r       1  1         1  1  party    rids 

the  battle.     First,  it  rid  itself  of  the  leaders  who   were  itself  of  its 

gold    leaders. 

against  its  principles ;  and  finally,  at  its  national  con- 
vention, 1896,  it  made  its  platform,  as  its  platforms  hat! 
always  been,  silver,  and  placed  an  open  and  avowed 
silver  man  on  it.  But  there  again  the  battle  was  mis- 
managed ;  the  strongest  points  were  yielded  without  con- 


3°2 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Erroneous 
concept    of 

money. 


Constitu- 
tionality  of 
silver    de- 
monetiza- 
tion. 

Unconstitu- 
tionality  of 
green- 
back   IIIOII- 

etization. 


Effect    on 
silver. 


Plain    words 


Full     "  legal 
tender  "   of 
six    hundred 
million   sil- 
ver  dollars 
admitted. 


"  Legal     ten 

der"   fifty 

millions 

fractional 

silver 

admitted. 


test  to  their  opponents,  and  consequently  the  battle  was 
lost.  It  may  be  asked  what  were  those  points.  The 
answer   is   this :   there   were   five :  — 

The  Five  Strong  Points  Yielded  First,  the  erro- 
neous concept  and  definition  of  money  hereinbefore  shown 
was  yielded  and  the  true  ones  not  mentioned. 

Second,  the  constitutionality  of  the  silver  demonetiza- 
tion acts  of  the  Congress  were  yielded,  and  their  uncon- 
stitutionality not  even  mentioned,  much  less  assailed. 

Third,  the  constitutionality  of  the  quality  of  tender 
in  the  greenback  was  admitted,  and  by  many  a  vig- 
orous battle  for  the  said  unconstitutional  greenback  was 
carried  on,  they  apparently  not  seeing  either  their  uncon- 
stitutionality or  that  the  three  hundred  and  fifty  million 
dollars  of  them  with  the  quality  of  tender  in  them  ad- 
mitted displaced  the  same  amount, —  three  hundred  and 
fifty  million  dollars  of  silver  coins  with  the  quality  of 
tender  in  them !  thus  rendering  three  hundred  and  fifty 
million  dollars  of  silver  coin  unnecessary  as  being 
supplied  by  the  greenback.  This,  of  course,  not  only 
lessened  the  use  and  price  of  silver,  but  showed  to  that 
extent  the  absence  of  necessity  for  it.  A  fatal  admis- 
•  sion!  Either  not  seeing  the  effect  on  silver,  or,  if  seeing, 
disregarding  it.  Plain  words  are  needed,  and  must  be 
used. 

Fourth,  the  "  legal  tender  "  quality  of  the  six  hundred 
millions  of  silver  dollars,  "  standard  dollars,"  was  ad- 
mitted ;  when  the  truth  was,  and  is,  that  not  a  dollar  of 
them  has  the  quality  of  tender.  This  has  been  shown 
in  some  of  the  preceding  pages  of  this  work. 
.  Fifth,  the  "  legal  tender  "  quality  of  the  fifty  millions 
of  fractional  silver  coins  was  admitted,  when,  as  has 
been  shown,  not  a  coin  of  them  had  that  quality. 

Can   there   be  wonder  that  a  battle   so  managed   was 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    303 

lost?  An  imaginary  but  perfect  parallel  might  be  found  Grant  and 
in  this:  had  Grant  before  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness 
surrendered  to  Lee  all  of  his  best  fortifications  except  one, 
and  in  addition  had  all  of  his  ammunition,  arms,  guns  and 
cannon,  except  one  cannon,  packed  up  and  sent  over  to 
Lee  too,  and  then  ordered  the  "  boys  in  blue  "  "  to 
charge,"  could  he  in  such  case  have  wondered  at  defeat? 
The  "silver  men"  having  granted  to  their  opponents 
these  five  points,  charged,  and  were  received  on  the 
bayonets  of  their  opponents'  ridicule  —  were  called  "Sil- 
ver Lunatics !  " 

Three  brief  statements  will  show  the  use  made  of 
these  admissions :  — 

First,  six  hundred  millions  of  dollars  of  full  "  legal 
tender "  silver  dollars,  fifty  millions  of  "  legal  tender " 
"  fractional  silver,"  three  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
"legal  tender"  greenbacks  and  nine  hundred  millions 
of  gold  coin  in  circulation,  to  say  nothing  of  the  other 
things  called  money,  to  wit,  gold  certificates,  silver  cer- 
tificates, treasury  certificates,  and  national  bank  notes,  all 
admitted   to   be  monev,   making   in   all   $28   per   capita,  $28.00  per 

0  capita. 

how  could  the  "  silver  men  "  have  the  face  to  say  that 
there  was  not  enough  money  ?  That  alleged  argument  was 
again  and  again  made  to  the  author  as  simply  conclusive. 
If  the  answer  was  made,  as  it  was  made  to  the  author, 
even  in  the  campaign  of  1902,  that  with  all  that  that 
there  was  still  a  deficiency  of  money,  then  the  other  side 
would  simply  say,  "  You  must  prove  that ;  mere  asser- 
tion does  not  convince.  There  is  much  more  than  at 
any  former  period  of  our  history,  and  it  requires  proof 
that  there  is  not  enough."  The  answer  is  not  convinc- 
ing unless  the  fallacy  of  those  admissions  is  pointed  out, 
and  then  it  is  easy  and  convincing.  For  if,  as  some 
"  silver  men  "  claimed  and  argued,  with  all  things  being 


304  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


"  Still  not 
enough  "   is 
for    argu- 
ment. 


Truth 
shown,   the 
position    is 
won. 


The   admis- 
sions 
"  flood  " 
the     country 
with    money. 


The  truth 
shown,  no 
danger. 


Silver  fell 
from  nat- 
ural causes ; 
legislation 
could  not 
and 

should  not 
raise   it. 
With    admis 
sion    plaus- 
ible. 

With  truth 
fallacy  ap- 
parent. 


World's 
opinion. 


England 
in   1816. 
Germany    in 
1871. 


as  stated,  still  there  was  not  enough  money, —  meaning 
by  the  term  "  money,"  money  together  with  all  its  repre- 
sentatives,—  how  much  stronger  would  their  argument 
and  position  have  been  with  the  truth  as  to  those  admis- 
sions known  and  stated !  With  the  truth  as  to  the  admis- 
sions known,  the  position  of  the  "  silver  men  "  is  un- 
answerable ;  but  without  it,  it  is  only  a  case  admitting 
of  argument. 

Second,  the  country  was  full  of  money ;  and  if  the 
"  free  coinage  "  of  silver  were  allowed,  then  it  would 
"  be  flooded  "  with  money,  and  foreign  countries  would 
"  dump  "  their  old  silver  ware  and  coins  into  the  United 
States  mint,  and  have  them  coined  from  fifty-cent  silver 
into  one-hundred-cent  dollars.  With  the  truth  admitted, 
these  so-called  arguments  have  already  been  shown  to  be 
fallacious  and  false;  but  without  the  truth,  they  have 
plausibility.  With  the  truth  shown,  the  Congress  could 
promptly  check  the  "  dumping,"  if  begun  ;  but  it  would 
never  begin. 

Third,  that  silver  fell  in  the  markets  of  the  world  from 
natural  causes,  and  that  legislation  could  and  should  not 
legislate  it  up  again. 

With  the  truth  shown,  the  falsity  and  fallacy  of  this  is 
-apparent;  with  the  admission,  there  is  plausibility  in  it 
also. 

Silver  never  fell  in  the  markets  of  the  world  until 
the  Congress  of  1873  by  usurped  power  demonetized  it. 

The  world  supposed  that  the  Congress  had  the  con- 
stitutional power  to  demonetize  it,  and  when  it  did  so, 
the  world  deemed  the  demonetization  of  silver  complete ; 
and  silver  of  course  fell  because  its  principal  function, 
its  principal  use,  was  legislated  out  of  it. 

England  demonetized  silver  in  1816,  and  it  had  no 
visible,  even  if  any,  effect  on  the  price  of  it ;  Germany 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    305 

demonetized  it  in  1871,  and  that  had  no  visible  effect  on 

the   price;   but   when   the   Great    Republic,    the    greatest  United 

r  .  States    in 

nation  of  all  the  ages,  demonetized  silver,  then  it  began  i»™. 
to  fall   in   price   in   the   markets   of   the   world,   and   not 
before  that  time. 

When  the  Congress  of  1873  demonetized  silver,  silver 
was  at  a  premium  of  three  per  cent  over  gold.  And  yet  Three  per 
the  Gold  Solomons  have  the  unblushing  effrontery  to 
say  silver  fell  in  price  from  natural  causes,  and  not  from 
adverse  legislation!  What  a  commentary  on  the  history 
of  the  times  is  this ! 

The  Corollary. —  As  a  kind  of  corollary  from  the  The    inited 

•      •  •  s  State    de- 

said  five  admissions  of  the  campaigns  of  1896  and  1900,  monetized 
it  was  urged  in  argument  that  the  United  States  alone  The  inited 

0  .  .  .  .        States    can 

could  not  remonetize  silver.     She  alone  demonetized  it,  remonetize 

silver. 

and  she  alone  can  remonetize  it. 

The  United  States,  in  population  and  resources,  is  the 
first  nation  in  the  world.  Compare  with  England,  France 
and  Germany.  England  has  forty  millions  of  popula- 
tion ;  France,  forty,  say,  though  it  is  not  that  much ; 
and  Germany,  forty ;  in  all,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
millions.  The  United  States  has  eighty  millions,  being 
two-thirds  of  the  amount  of  the  other  three  nations 
combined.  The  natural  resources  of  the  United  States 
are,  compared  with  the  other  three,  at  least  in  the  same 
proportion,  that  is,  two-thirds ;  and  its  present  wealth 
in  property  and  money  is  at  least  in  the  same  proportion. 
Therefore,  as  silver  fell  in  the  markets  of  the  world  when, 
and  only  when,  Uncle  Sam  struck  it,  so  it  will  rise  when 
Uncle  Sam  stretches  forth  his  powerful  hand  to  sustain 
it,  as  Uncle  Sam's  Constitution  and  interests  require. 

It  is  believed  that  France  will  cheerfully  follow  the 
lead  of  the  United  States  in  the  remonetization  of  silver ; 
also  that  Germany  has  already  seen,  or  will  soon  see, 
20 


306  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  error  of  her  way,  and  aid  in  the  silver  remonetization. 
However  this  may  be,  the  United  States  could  and  should 
remonetize  silver. 

As  soon  as  it  should  become  known  that  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  makes  silver  coins,  to- 
gether with  gold  coins,  the  money  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  nothing  else  can  therein  be  money,  silver  will 

$1.29.  regain  its  old  place  of  $1.29  an  ounce;  and  prosperity 

will  soon  thereafter  be  general  in  this  country.  It  is 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  it  could  be  otherwise ;  for, 
as  shown  in  former  pages  of  this  work,  all  the  gold  coin 

Not  one  doi-and  all  the  silver  coin  in  the  world  together  would  not 

111*       I  M  '  I" 

capita.  amount  to  one  dollar  per  capita  for  the   inhabitants   of 

the  world ;  and  all  the  gold  coin  and  all  the  silver  coin 
together  in  the  United  States  would  not  amount  to  four- 
teen dollars  per  capita  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 

in  "the  year  States;  and  this  on  "gold  standard"  men's  statistics  and 

of  prosper-      .  r  ,,  _ 

ity."  in  the  year  of      great  prosperity,     to  wit,  1899. 

strike  out        Strike  out  the  sham  money,  the  paper,  and  put  in  the 
true,  the  gold  coin  and  silver  coin  of  the  Constitution,  and 
all  will  be  well.     At  least,  if  there  is  to  be  a  paper  cur- 
Name  n        rency,  let  it  go  under  the  name  of  mere  currency  and 
remy,"  not    currency  only  ;  let  it  not  go  under  the  colors  of  money, 
NoDfaise        but  under  its  own  true  colors  of  currency.     And  when 
Director  of    directors  of  the  mint  and  statisticians  estimate  the  amount 
statisticians,  of  money  in  the  United  States,  let  them  put  down  only 
the  gold  coin  in  circulation  therein,  that  is,  under  silver 
demonetization  ;  but  under  the  Constitution,  when  it  shall 
be  obeyed,  only  the  gold  coin  and  silver  coin  in  circula- 
tion therein.    And  those  persons  who  estimate  the  amount 
of  currency  in  circulation,  let  them  put  down  money  and 
also  all  of  its  representatives ;  but  let  them  not  call  those 
Honest    and  representatives  money !     This  would  be  honest  and  fair 
meiit  of a aii.  treatment  of  all,  and  not  favoring  the  few. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    307 

What  Defeated  Harrison  in  1888? — As  concern- 
ing the  defeat  of  Blaine  in  1884,  so  the  author  cannot 
speak  from  knowledge  on  this  subject ;  he  has  an  opinion 
only.     That  opinion  is  this  :  — 

The  gold  men  had  control  of  the  National  Republican  Republican 
Convention,    and    by    shrewd    management    succeeded    in 
getting  control  of  the  National  Democratic   Convention.  Democratic 
The  candidate  of  each  party  was  unquestionably  in  their  The  two"* 
interest;  both  Air.  Cleveland  and   Mr.  Harrison  had  on 
all  occasions   done  just  what  the   "gold  men"   had  de- 
manded of  them.     Each  was  nominated  because  he  had 
done  so,  and  because  there  was  no  fear  that  either  would 
fail  in  continuing  to  do  so.     Then  each  candidate  being 
the  candidate  of  the  "  gold  men,"  why  was  Mr.  Harrison 
defeated    and    Mr.    Cleveland    elected,    when    Mr.    Har- 
rison's party  was  in  the  ascendency  in  the  nation?     This 
result  has  been  ascribed  to  various  causes,  but  it  is  be- 
lieved the  main  and  true  one  has  never  been  mentioned. 

The  answer  now  to  be  given,  if  true,  involves  one  of  The    answer. 
the  shrewdest  political  moves  that  has  been  made  in  this 
country  since  the  early  days  of  the  Republican  party,  to 
wit,  the  days  from  1855  to  1865. 

The   "  gold  men  "   reasoned  thus :    we   have   now   the  Goi.i  men 
control  of  the  financial  policy  of  the  country  for  the  next  year*, 
four  years  secure.    With  Mr.  Harrison  or  Mr.  Cleveland 
as  president  our  interests  are  secure.     We  must  therefore  Must  look 

ahead. 

look  ahead,  look  beyond  this  election  to  the  next.  Four 
years  from  now  in  1896  will  be  the  crisis  in  our  affairs. 
If  Mr.  Harrison  is  elected,  while  we  will  be  all  right 
for  his  term  of  office,  yet  it  will  be  the  means  of  our 
overthrow  in  the  next  election.     His  election  will  consol-  Harrison's 

•  election 

ulate  the  Democratic  partv  North  and  South  against  us  ;  would    have 

•  1      1       r--i  t-.  1  1-  1  1  •  1  consolidated. 

and  with  the  Silver  Republicans,  who  are,  that  is,  a  large  Democracy. 
number  of  them,  earnest  and  honest  men,  they  will  defeat 


3o8 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Ablest, 
Wrongest, 
best    111:111 


Dividing 
the   South 


Mr.    Carlisle. 


us  next  time  and  put  a  silver  man.  Democrat  or  Republi- 
can, in  the  office  of  president.  This  will  never  do,  we 
must  elect  Mr.  Cleveland  president ;  then  induce  him  to 
appoint  the  ablest,  strongest  and  best  man  that  he  can 
possibly  get  from  the  South,  the  best  man  that  the  South 
has,  in  fact,  to  the  office  of  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
and  let  him,  this  Southern  man,  go  South  and  address 
his  people,  inflaming  them  against  silver,  and  this  will 
divide  the  silver  forces  in  1896,  and  the  gold  man  will 
Throwing  off  be  elected  president ;  for  by  that  time  the  mask  will  have 
to  be  thrown  off,  no  party  can  longer  pretend  to  be  for 
silver  that  is  not  so  in  reality.  The  deception  that  any 
party  is  for  silver  when  it  in  fact  is  not  really  so,  will 
never  work  again.  It  was  a  shrewd  scheme  and  emi- 
nently successful. 

Mr.  Carlisle  perhaps  did  more  for  the  gold  cause  than 
any  other  man,  not  even  excepting  Mr.  Cleveland;  his 
speeches  in  the  South  were  very  effective.  They  carried 
many  a  man  down  there  into  the  "  gold  camp ; "  and 
many  remain  there,  though  some  have  seen  and  regretted 
their  error  in  deserting  the  silver  cause. 

We  of  the  West  once  wanted  Mr.  Carlisle  as  president, 
and  but  for  the  unfortunate  situation  thus  arising  on  the 
silver  question,  it  is  believed  would  have  gotten  him.  Is 
it  too  late  to  get  him  yet,  should  he  see  the  truth  as  to 
money  and  be  willing  to  enter  the  battle  for  it?  If  the 
truth  has  been  shown  in  the  preceding  pages  of  this  work, 
and  that  truth  shows  great  writers  on  "  economics  "  and 
great  statesmen  to  have  been  wrong  on  this  question, 
would  Mr.  Carlisle  lose  in  reputation  in  the  estimation  of 
either  his  contemporaries  or  in  that  of  posterity  should 
he  frankly  acknowledge  his  error  and  enter  the  battle  for 
the  truth? 


Wanted    in 
the   West. 


Is    it 

late? 


too 


Reputation. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    309 

Further,  On  the  Battle  that  Should  Have  Been 
Fought. — When  in  1900  the  dominant  party's  nominee 
for  the  presidency,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance  of  the  nom-  challenge 

...  -1^1  ,i  r   ,1       tt    ♦,     1    "'     dominant 

ination  of  his  party,  said  that  the  exports  of  the  United  party's 
States  for  the  four  years  preceding  the  date  of  the  letter, 
to  wit,  the  time  of  said  nominee's  first  term  of  office  in 
the  presidency,  from  1896  to  1900,  were  more  in  amount 
than  the  exports  of  the  whole  country  from  the  beginning 
of  its  history  up  to  the  date  of  said  letter,  urging  that  as 
a  reason  why  the  people  should  support  the  dominant 
party,  and  elect  the  said  nominee  to  the  presidency,  the 
minority  party's  nominee  in  his  letter  of  acceptance  of  his 
nomination  could  have  truthfully  made  this  answer :  — 

Granting  the  assertion  to  be  true,  whom  does  it  hurt?  Acceptance 

0  ana     answer 

If  it  speaks  in  favor  of  the  four  years  of  the  dominant  of  minority 

r  J  party's 

party's  policy  stated,  it  also  speaks  in  condemnation  of  the  nominee. 

thirty-one  years  of  the  said  party's  policy  preceding  those 

four !     For,  if  coming  from  the  policy  of  those  four,  the 

policy  of  the  preceding  thirty-one  was  wrong;  the  party 

never  got  right  in  its  policy  until  1896!    Thirty-one  years  Too  long  in 

.    '  .  .  .  .   .    .  .....       coming. 

is  a  long  time  to  give  a  party  in  which  to  get  itself  right 
in  its  policy.  Besides,  that  contention  condemns  all  the 
great  leaders  of  the  said  dominant  party  in  its  palmy 
days,  to  wit,  President  Lincoln,  General  Grant,  etc...  etc. ! 
That   the  contention   condemned   one   four  years   of  the  condemns 

1  i«  r  ',s     greatest 

minority  party  s  policy,  and  also,  after  a  term  of  four  leaders. 

years   of   the    dominant    party's    administration,    another 

four  vears  of  the  minority  partv's  policv  under  President  No   condem- 

,  ,  .         .  nation    of 

Cleveland,  but  did  not  at  all  make  to  the  prejudice  of  true    Democ- 

1  racy. 

the  true  democracy.  Not  an  hour  of  true  democracy 
was  condemned  by  it. 

Thus  it  would  have  been  clearly  shown  that  whatever  The  eauses 

.  .  ,  ■  o  °f    the    pros- 

of   prosperity  came   to   the   country   m    1899,    came   not  perity  of 

-  ,  ,         .  ,  ..  ,  .  .  r     .        l«!l!)    and 

from    the   dominant    party  s    policy,    but    111   spite    of    it.  after. 


310  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

Among    the    causes    might    have    been    truthfully    men- 
tioned :  — 

(i)   Time   for   Reaction. —  That  the   history  of  the 

country    shows   that   it   has   been   subject   to   periods   of 

depression  and  periods  of  prosperity,  whatever  may  be  the 

Long  period  cause  of  them  ;  that  a  long,  long  period  of  depression  had 

of   depres-  .  ,  ... 

sion,  1877.  been  upon  it,  dating  back  to  1877,  anc^  not  beginning  in 
1893,  as  was  so  often  and  so  falsely  stated;  and  that  the 
time  for  a  change  for  the  better  was  at  hand,  according 
to  the  theory  that  periodical  depressions  are  unavoidable, 
and  that  change  had  to  come  and  did  come  to  some  extent 
notwithstanding  the  bad  policy  and  the  bad  laws  of  the 

Resources      dominant  party.     The  resources  of  the  country  are  too 

of    the   coun-  .  , 

try.  great  for  its  utter  destruction,      the  country  can  stand 

Can    stand  .  " 

much.  much  misgovernment,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  it  should 

be  compelled  to  stand  it.  The  country  should  have  the 
best  government  possible,  and  not  a  bad  one  simply  be- 
cause it  can  stand  a  bad  one. 

As  to  whatever  of  prosperity  that  did  come  in  1899  and 
since,  who  gets  the  lion's  share  of  it?  Has  it  not  gone, 
as  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury have  gone,  into  the  coffers  of  the  millionaires  ?  The 
laboring  man, —  the  man  whose  labor  produced  them. 
—  gets  little  of  them  ;  he  still  labors,  toils,  struggles  in 
poverty.  The  wealth  that  he  produces  comes,  but  the 
laws  of  his  country  take  it  away  from  him  by  the  sweat 
of  whose  brow  it  was  made,  and  gives  it  to  him  who  did 
not  toil  but  only  schemed  for  it.  The  inequality  of  dis- 
tribution   of   that   wealth    is   apparent. 

Let  the  reader  examine  the  testimony  given  before  the 
Pennsylvania  Coal  Commission  in  the  autumn  of  1902, 
and  see  there  a  striking  illustration  of  the  inequality  of 

crisis  of       the  Present  system. 

c^usecTit1*         1"  passing",  a  word  on  the  crisis  of  1893.    What  caused 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    311 

it?     In  the  campaign  of  1896  the  party  in  power  threw 
the  blame  for  it  on  the  minority  party.    Was  that  true  or 
just?     In    1892,  at  the  invitation  of  the   United   States, 
the  monetary  conference   was  held   at   Brussels,   for  the  Monetary 
purpose  of  seeing  if  something  could  be  done  for  silver,  at  Brussels 
At  that   conference   the   leading  nations   of   Europe   had 
representatives.     Baron  Rothschild,  the  great  financier  of  Baron 
the  age,  was  a  member  of  the  conference.     He,  although  proposi-  l 
a  "  gold  standard  "  man,  made  a  proposition  to  do  some- 
thing for  silver,  saying  at  the  same  time  that  if  something 
was  not  done  a  great  financial  crisis  and  panic   would 
come.      The   baron's   proposition  was   opposed  ;    he   then  its  rejec- 
w  ithdrew    it,    and,    as    he    had    predicted,    the    financial 
crisis,  panic  of   1893,  the  next  year,  came!     The  party 
in  power  in  the  campaign  of  1896  said  Mr.  Cleveland's  His  predic- 
tariff  policy   was   the   cause   of   the   panic  of    1893 !    out 
Baron  Rothschild  said  the  cause  was  not  doing  something 
for  silver   at   the   Brussels   conference.      The   latter   was 
the  real  cause.     Thus  it  is  that  Mr.  Cleveland's  financial 
policy  in  aid  and  in  furtherance  of  the  dominant  party's  The  dom- 
financial    policy   since    1873    was    the    real   cause   of    the  Sake  they 
panic;  but  the  dominant  part)',  after  getting  Mr.  Cleve-  tariff  policy 
land's    services    in    their    cause,    ungratefully    threw    the 
blame  of  the  panic  on  his  tariff  policy.     Was  this  "  poetic 
justice,"  or  political  justice  and  gratitude? 

Again,    after    getting   this    service    of    Mr.    Cleveland,  The  special 
after  Mr.   Cleveland  had  called  a  special  session  of  the  congress! 
Congress  in  1893  to  repeal  the  "  purchasing  clause  of  the  purchasing 
Sherman  law,"  that  is,  the  clause  of  said  "  law  "  requir-  "  Sherman 

law." 

ing  the  United  States  to  purchase  four  million  and  five 
hundred  thousand  ounces  of  silver  each  month,  see  what 
the  dominant  party  men  say  of  him  about  that  matter 
now.  At  that  time  they,  in  and  out  of  Congress,  the 
Spellbinder    and    all,    charged    the    condition    of    things 


312  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Then   and 
now. 


then  existing  to  the  said  purchasing  clause,  and  shrieked 
that  if  that  were  repealed  things  would  be  all  right 
and  good  times  come.  The  special  session  of  Congress 
was  held,  and  the  purchasing  clause  repealed.  Mark  now 
the  change.  Then,  it  was  the  said  purchasing  clause  that 
was  doing  the  mischief  to  the  country ;  now,  it  is,  ac- 
cording to  the  same  dominant  party  men,  another  thing, 
to  wit,  the  tariff.  In  a  campaign  utterance  in  1902,  a 
year  in  which  it  is  claimed,  and  by  many  believed,  that 
the  "  silver  question  is  dead  " — that  that  vexing  question 
Postmaster  is  out  of  the  way,  Postmaster-General  Payne,  as  reported 
Payne.  in   the   San  Francisco  Bulletin   of   Nov.   2,    1902,   to  all 

intents  and  purposes  called  President  Cleveland  a  fool 
for  thinking  that  the  "  purchasing  clause  of  the  Sherman 
law"  did  the  mischief  in  1893.  He  said:  "Instead  of 
restoring  public  confidence  by  announcing  that  there 
should  be  no  meddling  with  the  tariff,  Mr.  Cleveland 
insisted  upon  a  repeal  of  the  Sherman  law,  to  which  he 
fatuously  ascribed  all  the  responsibility  for  the  trouble." 
The  phrase,  "  fatuously  ascribed,"  comes  quite  up  to  the 
mark  of  calling  Mr.  Cleveland  a  fool.  The  following 
is  the  Bulletin  article:  — 

"  Chairman  Payne  of  the  National  Republican 
Committee  Scores  the  Ex-President. —  Washington, 
Nov.  1. —  The  most  cheerful  Republican  there  is  any- 
where is  Postmaster-General  Payne,  vice-chairman  of  the 
Republican  National  Committee,  who  says  Grover  Cleve- 
land's speech  in  New  Jersey  is  a  bully  old  Republican 
document  and  will  gather  in  Republican  votes  next  Tues- 
day.    Here  is  what  General  Payne  says :  — 

'  Grover  Cleveland  has  lifted  the  Democratic  mask. 
The  Democrats  have  been  talking  about  trusts  ever  since 
they  had  to  drop  imperialism  as  an  issue,  but  in  a  close 
campaign,   Mr.   Cleveland  in   New  Jersey,   Mr.    Vilas   in 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    313 

Wisconsin  and  Carl  Schurz  in  New  York,  simultaneously 
lift  the  mask  and  reveal  the  same  old  Democratic  coun- 
tenance we  saw  in  1887,  when  President  Cleveland  sent 
his  famous  free  trade  message  to  Congress,  and  in  1892 
when  the  Chicago  Convention  declared  the  protective 
tariff  unconstitutional.  The  Democratic  party  is  again 
the  party  of  free  trade.  That  is  the  essence  of  Dem- 
ocratic reform  now,  as  it  was  when  Henry  Watterson 
was  the  Democratic  prophet  and  the  "  star-eyed  goddess  " 
of  tariff  reform,  the  idol  of  the  organization.' 

"  Watterson,  in  the  beginning  of  this  campaign,  de- 
scribed Cleveland's  presence  at  the  Democratic  harmony 
dinner  in  New  York  as  a  '  death's  head  '  at  the  feast. 
After  the  experience  of  1892  that  was  an  apt  phrase,  but 
.Mr.  Cleveland  is  still  the  prophet  of  his  party.  He  is 
again  the  leader,  and  his  great  issue  for  Democratic 
reform  is  '  free  trade.' 

'  Do  yon  think  that  Cleveland's  speech  will  aid  Dem- 
ocrats ?  ' 

" '  I  think  Cleveland's  speech  is  the  most  powerful 
argument  for  Republican  success  that  appeared  during  the 
campaign  on  either  side.  This  confirms  what  we  expected 
from  the  beginning  —  that  the  real  issue  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic campaign  is  tariff  for  revenue  only,  such  as 
wrought  disastrous  results  ten  years  ago. 


<<  < 


It  may  be  too  late  a  speech  to  have  its  full  effect 
on  the  country,  but  the  Republican  Committee  ought  to 
give  it  the  widest  possible  circulation.  It  is  one  of  the 
best  Republican  campaign  documents  that  has  been  issued. 
Alongside  the  speech  might  be  circulated  quotations  from 
Cleveland's  message  of  Aug.  8,  1894  —  the  message  to 
the  special  session  of  Congress  which  was  called  to  relieve 
national  distress.  That  message  contains  the  most  graphic 
description  of  the  condition  into  which  the  industries  of 


"3 
ou.s 


314  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

the  country  had  been  brought  by  fear  of  the  enactment 
of  Cleveland's  free  trade  theories  into  legislation  that 
ever  appeared.  Cleveland  in  his  inaugural  address,  on 
March  4,  1893,  flung  down  a  free  trade  challenge  by 
declaring  that  Congress  must  bring  about  tariff  reform 
in  response  to  a  decree  of  the  people. 

'  Instead  of  restoring  public  confidence  by  announc- 
ing that  there  should  be  no  meddling  with  the  tariff,  Mr. 
Cleveland  insisted  upon  a  repeal  of  the  Sherman  law,  to 
which  he  fatuously  ascribed  all  the  responsibility  for  the 
trouble.  But  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  law  had  no  effect 
upon  the  disasters  that  continued  throughout  the  Cleve- 
land administration,  and  it  was  only  after  the  election  of 
McKinley  and  the  passage  of  the  Dingley  law  that  signs 
of  a  return  of  prosperity  began  to  appear.  Mr.  Cleve- 
land and  his  Democratic  followers  may  think  the  people 
have  forgotten  their  experiences  under  his  administration 
of  tariff  reform,  but  I  seriously  doubt  if  the  wage  earner 
or  business  man  will  forget  that  experience  in  so  short 
a  time. 

'It  is  ominous  of  Democratic  prospects  that  their 
principal  champion  in  this  moment  of  natural  prosperity 
should  be  the  man  under  whose  administration,  for  the 
first  time  in  half  a  century,  there  was  an  increase  of 
$260,000,000  in  the  public  debt.  That  was  the  first  and 
only  increase  in  time  of  peace  for  half  a  century.  He 
may  well  be  called  the  advance  agent  of  calamity.  It  may 
be  a  waste  of  time  to  recall  these  facts,  because  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's speech  will  itself  revive  in  the  memory  of  almost 
everybody  some  bitter  personal  memory  of  misfortune 
due  to  the  success  of  his  policies.'  " 
so  fatu-  Note  well  the  words,   Cleveland   "  was  so  fatuous  as 

to  believe  " !  Mr.  Cleveland  is  called  a  fool  for  doing 
the  very   thing  that  the   dominant   party   men   said   was 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    315 

the  means  to  save  the  country  !     While  they  thought  the 
silver  question  was  alive,  a  "  live  issue,"   they   said  the 
purchasing  clause  did  the  mischief  of  which   complaint  purchasing 
was   made.      When   they   think   the    "  silver    question    is  Sherman 
dead  "  and  out  of  their  way,  then   it  is  the  Democratic 
tariff  policy  that  did  the  mischief! 

"  Not  Dead,  but  Sleepetii." — A  word  here  about  the 
death  of  the  silver  question.  It  is  believed  that  it  "  is  not 
dead,  but  sleepeth ;  "  that  it  needed  a  sleep  from  the 
weariness  of  injudicious  defense;  but  that  it  will  soon 
arise  from  its  slumber,  refreshed,  and,  like  a  giant,  ready  a  giant 

rpiid  v    for 

not  only   for  battle,  but  also  for  victory!     And  for  this  battle. 
latter  "  we  will  ever  pray." 

2.  Famine  in  India  and  Other  Countries. —  The 
second  cause  of  the  prosperity  in  1899  was  the  famine 
in  India,  when  five  millions  of  human  beings  died  from 
starvation ;  and  also  famine  in  Australia  and  Russia, 
where  much  suffering  for  want  of  food  existed.  All  those 
afforded  markets  for  American  farm  productions,  and 
in    consequence    brought    prosperity.      But    do    we    want  prosperity 

t      •       1      1  •  1  from 

prosperity  coming  from  such  causes?     It  is  believed  not.  famine. 

At  least  a  very  pious  Southern  ladv,  who  had  changed  her  nous  Sonth- 

....  .  111  1        ern  tody. 

politics  because  of  the   1899  prosperity,  told  the  author 

that  she  did  not.     It  came  about  thus :  — 

The  author  asked  her  why  she  had  so  changed.     She 

responded  because  the  prosperity  came  with  the  success 

of  the  dominant  party,  and  she  got  a  better  price  for  her 

wheat.     He  then  asked  her  if  she  wanted  prosperity  on 

the   same   condition   and   coming  to  her   from   the  same 

causes  as  the  prosperity  that  had  come  in  1899.     She  said, 

"  Yes."    He  then  said,  "  Let  me  dictate  a  prayer  for  you  to 

pray  then  ;  and  every  evening  when  you,  before  retiring 

for  the   slumbers   of   the   night,   kneel   to  offer   up   your 

orison  to  God  for  his  blessings  and  bounties  to  you,  pray 

thus :  — 


3 16  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Gold  Sol- 
omon's 
prayer  for 
prosperity. 


Murderer's 
tracks. 


'  O  God,  I  adore  thy  most  holy  name  and  thine  infinite 
and  wonderful  perfections !  I  thank  thee  for  the  many 
mercies  and  blessings  that  thou  hast  vouchsafed  unto  me 
during  my  pilgrimage  through  this  vale  of  tears.  I 
thank  thee  that  a  famine  came  in  Australia,  and  thou- 
sands of  men,  women  and  even  little  children  hungered 
and  suffered  and  even  died,  because  that  made  markets 
for  American  farm  products,  and  gave  me  better  price 
for  my  wheat !  I  thank  thee  that  famine  came  in  Russia, 
and  there,  too,  men,  women  and  little  children  hungered, 
suffered  and  died,  because  that  added  still  further  to 
the  price  of  my  wheat ! !  And  Thou,  O  holy  and  most 
merciful  Lord  God  of  heaven  and  earth,  I  would  have 
my  lips  again  utter  my  most  pious  adoration  of  thy 
wonderful  attributes  of  mercy,  justice  and  love,  and 
thank  thee  above  and  beyond  all  things  that  a  famine 
came  in  India,  and  in  that  famine  five  millions  of  men, 
women  and  little  children  hungered,  suffered,  starved, 
died,  because  that  more  than  all  else  added  increase  to 
the  price  of  my  wheat ! ! !  '  Will  you,  can  yon,  pray  that 
prayer?"  She:  "No,  I  cannot;  I  dare  not."  Author: 
'Then  you  do  not  want  prosperity  coming  under  the 
came  conditions,  and  from  the  same  causes  as  the  pros- 
perity of  1899?  "  She  :  "  No  ;  I  do  not."  Author  :  "  Well, 
I  thought  not." 

The  author  has  heard  those  of  whom  he  expected  bet- 
ter things,  some  in  private  conversation  and  some  from 
the  Spellbinder's  rostrums,  say  :  — 

"  So  many  circumstances, —  famines,  wars,  etc., —  com- 
ing at  the  critical  time  to  aid  the  dominant  party  in 
1899,  showed  that  God  was  on  the  side  of  that  party,  and 
that  that  party  was  in*  the  right !  "  To  some  he  made 
answer  that  if  that  argument  was  sound,  then  when  a 
rain   came   and   obliterated  the   tracks   of   the   murderer, 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    317 

as  he  retreated  from  the  scene  of  his  crime  and  the  body 
of  his  dying  victim,  that  proved  that  God  was  on  the 
side  of  the  murderer,  and  that  the  murderer  was  right, 
and  that  we  should  all  join  him ! 

3.  The  Wars  in  South  Africa,  Cuba  and  the 
Philippines. — The  third  and  last  cause  that  will  be  here 
mentioned  of  the  prosperity  of  1899  is  the  wars  in  South 
Africa,  Cuba  and  the  Philippines.  These  wars  also  made 
markets  not  only  for  American  farm  products  but  also 
for  war  materials,  arms,  guns,  cannons,  powder,  etc.,  etc. 
Monev  was  raised  bv  the  government  for  these  purposes  Money  bor- 

*  .       .  .  . .         rowed. 

and  expended  among  the  people  in  payment  tor  supplies 

and  services,  and  thus  got  into  circulation ;  and,  of  course, 

a  temporary  prosperity  had  to  arise.     But  when  the  pay-  Times    good. 

dav  arrives,  then  the  "  hard  times  "  will  also  arrive.     It  Money  to  be 

....  paid,    times 

is  like  the  spendthrift :  he  mortgages  his  patrimonial  es-  bad. 
tates  to  raise  money,  and  during  the  time  of  the  money's 
spending  he  seems  to  be  prosperous,  very  prosperous  in- 
deed ;  but  when  the  money  is  all  expended  and  pay-day 
comes,  his  estate,  if  moderate,  all  goes  in  payment;  if 
very  large,  it  is  greatly  diminished  in  size.  If  he  has 
nothing  left,  lie  is  ruined  ;  but  if  his  patrimonial  estate 
was  very  large  and  he  has  something  left,  and  if  he  learns 
wisdom  from  his  experience,  he  may  still  do  something ; 
but  if  not,  all  is  over  with  him.     So  with  "  Uncle  Sam  !  "  "  uncie 

•     ,  •       1  ,  ,    ,  Sam's" 

his  patrimonial  estate  was  indeed  very  large,  and  he  can  estate, 
in  consequence  stand  much  mismanagement  without  ruin ; 
but  another  time  and  day  he  may  be  differently  situated. 
Then  he  may  find  that  bad  policy  may  work  his  over- 
throw.    This,  however,  may  God  forfend ! 

The  logical   fallacy  post  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc    [after  Post  hoc 

i'ii-  ■  •  -1  1-11      ergo    propter 

this,  therefore  on  account  of  this  |    is  entirely  applicable  hoc. 
here.     After  this,  therefore  on  account  of  this,  is  the  rea- 
soning of  the  simple  and  uninformed.    The  books  on  logic 


3>8 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Illustra- 
tions. 


lay  this  down  as  a  common  fallacy  to  be  shunned.  By 
it  anything  may  be  proved,  even  that  the  sun  rose  because 
John  Smith  rose.  Thus :  John  Smith  rose,  and  imme- 
diately thereafter  the  sun  rose ;  therefore,  the  sun  rose 
because  John  Smith  rose !  Application :  the  dominant 
party  succeeded  in  the  election  of  1896,  about  a  year 
after  prosperity  began  to  come ;  therefore  the  prosperity 
came  because  the  dominant  party  so  succeeded !  This  is 
argumentum  ad  simpiicem  [argument  to  the  simple]. 
Death  of  In   1896  thousands  of  good  men  and  women  died  in 

good    men  . 

and  women,  the  United  States,  about  a  year  after  prosperity  came; 
therefore,  according  to  this  mode  of  argument,  the  pros- 
perity came  because  of  the  deaths  of  those  good  men  and 
women !  O  ye  simple !  By  such  reasoning  any  event 
can  be  proved  to  be  caused  by  any  preceding  event.  Often 
are  people  deceived  by  this  fallacy,  apparent  as  it  is. 


Argumen- 
tum   ad 
simpiicem. 


Not   man- 
damus. 


SECTION  II. 
The  Suit  That  Should  Have  Been  Brought. 

The  suit  that  should  have  been  brought  is  not  that 
one  that  was  brought,  to  wit,  mandamus  to  the  officers 
of  the  mint,  to  compel  them  to  coin  silver  bullion  that 
was  taken  to  them  for  that  purpose.  It  is  a  marvel  in- 
deed that  any  lawyer  could  have  advised  that  remedy. 
In  talking  with  prominent  silver  Democrats  and  silver 
Republicans  about  bringing  a  suit  to  test  the  question, 
and  finally  taking  it  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  the  author  was  assured  by  them  diat  that  had 
been  tried  and  failed ;  that  it  was.  they  thought,  aban- 
doned after  realizing  it  would  not  do. 

Mandamus  means,  We  command.  'The  action  of 
mandamus  is  one,  brought  in  a  court  of  competent  juris- 
diction, to  obtain  an  order  of  such  court  commanding  an 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    319 

inferior  tribunal,  board,  corporation  or  person  to  do  or 
not  to  do  an  act  tbe  performance  or  omission  of  which  the 
law  enjoins  as  a  duty  resulting  from  an  office,  trust  or 
station." 

In  other  words,  mandamus  cannot  issue  against  any 
tribunal,  board,  corporation  or  person  until  a  law  is 
shown  saying  that  the  said  tribunal,  board,  corporation 
or  person  shall  do  a  certain  thing,  naming  it,  or  shall 
refrain  from  doing  a  certain  thing,  naming  it.  So  if 
one  asks  of  a  court  a  writ  of  mandamus  to  an  officer  of 
the  mint  to  compel  said  officer  to  coin  silver  bullion  into 
silver  coins,  he  must  show  to  the  court  a  law  of  the 
Congress  saying  that  the  said  officer  should  coin  said 
bullion.  For  the  Constitution  gives  the  sole  power  of 
coining  to  the  Congress  ;  no  other  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment has  that  power.  Therefore  if  the  Congress 
refuses  to  pass  a  law  authorizing  silver  coinage,  there 
can  be  no  coinage  of  silver.  So  the  mint  officer  would 
have  a  perfect  defense  to  the  action  of  mandamus.  That 
remedy  could  never  reach  the  evil. 

How  could  mandamus  do,  when  that  remedy  is  only  Must  show 
applicable  when  a  board  or  officer  refuses  to  do  something  mandamus. 
which  under  the  law  it  is  his  or  its  plain  duty  to  do? 
The  Constitution  gives  the  Congress  the  power  to  coin 
money,  and  before  mandamus  will  lie  against  any  officer 
to  compel  him  to  coin,  there  must  be  a  law  of  Congress 
saying  he  must  coin.     Without  such  a  law  there  is  no 
possible  mandamus.     When  the  Congress  refuses  to  pass  People's 
such  a  law  the  mandamus  should  issue  to  that  body  from  t"ie"Von- 
the  people.     By  their  ballots  the  people,  the  masters  of  ' 
the  Congress,   should  say,  You  must  coin ;  and   if  they 
then  do  not  coin,  turn  out  the  "  unfaithful  servants  "  and 
put  in  faithful  servants  who  will  coin.     In  order  to  put  True 
their  compulsion   on  the   Congress,   a   suit,   an   ordinary 


320  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

action  of  debt,  not  mandamus,  should  be  brought  in  the 
court  to  show  the  Congress  that  they,  the  Congress,  can- 
Aotion  of      not  make  the   greenbacks  tender,   and   that   they  cannot 
take  the  quality  of  tender  away  from  the  silver  that  they 
do  have  coined. 
presenting         The  details  of  such  a  suit  cannot  well  be  taken  up  here, 
ote  theTase.  but  the  suit  should  have  been  brought ;  and  had  it  been, 
and  the  folly  of  yielding  to  the  other  side  without  contest 
every  point  of  strength  except  the  single  one  of  the  inex- 
pediency of  the  silver  demonetization  enactments  avoided, 
and  the  real  strength  of  the  case  shown  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  that  tribunal  would  never  have  held  so  untenable 
a  position  as  that  the  power  to  borrow  money  includes 
in  it  the  power  to  declare  money ! 

SECTION  III. 

Can   the   Lesson    Even    Now   Be   Taught? 

Fifteen  Why  not ?     The  author  has  been  informed  that  he  is 

the  times,     in  this  matter  fifteen  years  behind  the  times !    He  declines 
statute  of      to   believe   it.     The   statute  of  limitations   does   not   run 

limitations  .  .  ,      .         ~  .  ia^i  i  1 

runs  not  in  against  the  truth  in  fifteen  years!  No  human  law  that 
'he  is  aware  of  so  enacts ;  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  the  only  binding  human  law  on  this  subject,  does 
not  so  say  ;  and  under  the  Divine  law  can  it  be  doubted 
that  often  the  errors,  wrongs  and  injustices  that  are  hoary 
with  the  frost  of  centuries  are  smitten  down?  Under 
the  Divine  government  no  statute  of  limitations  has  been 
proved  to  have  been  enacted  in  favor  of  error,  wrong  and 

God's  prose-  injustice.     God,   in   his   own   good  time,   it   seems,  upon 

rating  .  °  x 

officers.  them,  the  triple-headed  monster  of  iniquity,  sets  the  pros- 

ecuting officers  of  his  own  universal  court,  to  wit,  truth, 
right  and  justice,  and  by  their  agency  smites  the  Cerberus 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    321 

from  existence.  We  say  to  error,  You  are  no  divinity! 
We  worship  you  not.  You  are  not  eternal.  Truth  shall 
smite  and  destroy  you ! 

The  succession  of  lost  battles  for  twenty-five  years,  it  Lost  battles. 
would  seem,  should  have  taught  the  generals  command- 
ing to  suspect  the  correctness  of  their  methods  and  cam- 
paign tactics,  provided  they  still  believed  in  the  justice 
of  their  cause.  If  they  had  lost  faith  in  the  justice  of  Lost  faith, 
their  cause,  they  should  have  abandoned  it  and  stopped 
the  contest.  If  in  their  opinions  the  cause  was  not  just, 
but  that  it  could  well  be  used  as  a  stepping  stone  to  mount 
into  office.   State  or  National,   then   from  an  intellectual  If  only 

steppingr- 

point  of  view  their  conduct  had  apparent  reason   in   it,  stone,  de- 

1  L  served   de- 

but  from   a  moral   point   of   view   it   had   no   merit   and  feat- 

deserved  defeat. 

Truth   never   dies,   and  her  devotees  never  surrender.  Devotees 
Her  mercenary  soldiers  may  surrender,  or  quit  the  field  render.' 
and   fly,  and  they  may  desert  to  the  enemy   when   their  may. 
pay  ceases,  for  their  pay   is  money,  place  and  position,  Their  pay. 
and   these    ceasing,    their    "  sword    arms  "    fall :    but    the 
genuine  soldier  of  truth,  he  who  fights  for  the  right  be- 
cause he  believes  it  is   right, —  not  the  mercenary,  who 
fights  for  truth  or  error  indifferently,  but  in  either  case 
because  he  is  paid  therefor, —  this  genuine  soldier  never 
surrenders,  flies  or  'eserts.    He  dies  with  truth  in  its  tem- 
porary death  and  revives  also  with  it  in  its  glorious  resur-  Death   tem- 
rection  from  the  dead !  resurrection 

Then  the  answer  to  the  question  heading  this  section, 
to  wit,  Can  the  lesson  even  now  be  taught  ?  is,  Yes ;  be- 
cause the  people  are  the  genuine  soldiers  of- truth,  having 
not  lost  their  intellects,  their  patriotism  or  their  manhood 


glorious. 


—  courage. 


The  lesson  can  still,  even  now,  be  taught. 

Laus  Deo!     [Praise  be  to  God.]  Laus  Deo. 

21 


322  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

SECTION  IV. 

Can  the  Remedy  Even  Now  Be  Wrought? 

As  was  said  in  answer  to  the  question  heading  the  last 
section,  so  it  may  be  to  that  heading  this,  Why  Not? 
The  people  have  not  lost  their  intellects,  their  patriot- 
The  spirit  of  ism    or   their   manhood  —  courage.      It    is    believed   that 


1776. 


sufficient  of  the  "spirit  of  1776" — the  intellect,  man- 
hood and  courage  of  1776  and  that  of  1787  to  1789  —  re- 
mains to  achieve  another  victory  as  glorious  as  in  those 
days  of  heroes  and  statesmen.  The  people  still  have 
intellect  to  see,  manhood  to  endure  and  courage  to  dare. 
Then  let  the  contest  begin.  But  how  should  the  battle 
be  fought  ?     Thus  :  — 

The  battle  that  should  have  been  then   fought, 

The   same  battle   should   be  now   fought ; 

The  suit  that  should  have  been  then  brought, 

The  same  suit  should  be  now  brought ; 

The  lesson  that  should  have  been  then  taught, 

That  lesson  should  be  now  taught ; 

And    then    the    remedy    that    would    have    been    then 
wrought, 
Why  the  That  same  remedy  will  be  now  wrrug-ht! 

threefold  J  ° 

battle?  But  why  the  threefold  battle  —  by  bill  in  the  Congress 

(Senate  and  House)  ;  suit  in  the  courts,  nisi  prius  and 
appellate  (by  nisi  prius  is  meant  the  court  in  which 
trial  is  first  had),  the  subordinate  and  the  supreme  — 
and  lesson  to-  the  people  ?  Why  not  show  the  true  state 
of  the  matter  to  the  Congress,  and  let  that  body  correct 
the  error  into  which  it  has  fallen? 

Have  we  not  been  informed  that  the  Congress  will  not 
listen  ?  that  stating  the  truth  to  that  body,  and  appealing 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    323 

to  the  consciences  of  its  members  to  observe  their  oaths 
of  office  will  fill  the  "  cloak  room  "  thereof  with  mem- 
bers and  cause  the  question  to  be  asked  concerning  the 
member  so  appealing,  '  When  will  the  idiot  get 
through  ?  "  No ;  going  there,  and  there  alone,  will  not 
do.  We  must  appeal  to  those  who  are  not  so  fond  of 
the  "  cloak  room,"  nor  so  astute  in  detecting  idiots.  Too  astute. 

Again,  why  not  show  the  true  state  of  the  case  to 
the  courts,  first  to  the  trial  court,  and  finally  on  appeal 
to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  and  ask  that 
august  tribunal  to  exercise  its  constitutional  power  to 
restrain  the  Congress  from  its  usurpation  of  power  and 
violation  of  the  Constitution? 

True,  that  should  be  done  and  must  be  done,  but  in  Let  the 

people    un- 

addition  thereto  the  people  should  be  made  to  under-  derstand. 
stand  the  whole  matter  and  see  that  should  that  court, 
as  that  court  has  done,  say  that  the  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution saying  that  "  No  State  shall  make  anything  but 
gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts,"  means 
that  no  State  shall  make  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in 
payment  of  debts  —  see  that  the  court  so  ruling  shall  be 
held  in  suitable  remembrance.  Further,  that  when  that  suitable 
court,  as  that  court  has  done,  rules  that  the  clause  in  brance. 
said  Constitution  that  says,  "  The  Congress  shall  have 
the  power  to  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United 
States,"  carries  with  it,  or  includes  in  it,  the  power  in 
the  Congress  to  say  what  thing  or  things  shall  be  money 
in  the  United  States,  that  court  shall  stand  before  the 
world  in  its  true  character.  This  of  course  means  after 
the  truth  has  been  presented  to  the  court.  When  coun- 
sel in  a  case  before  a   court  admits  his  case  away,  he  Admitting 

....  ....  .       .  the    ease 

cannot  complain  that  the  court  agrees  with  him  and  gives  away. 
judgment    against    him!    but   this    does    not    excuse    the 
court  for  doing  so.     For  an  error  so  glaring  no  excuse  is 


324  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Before    all 

three 

tribunals. 


possible ;  and  the  people  should  know  the  men  who  so 
interpret  their   Constitution. 

But  considering  the  lost  battles  in  the  Congress,  in 
the  court,  and  before  the  people,  it  were  safer  and  better 
to  bring  the  case  before  all  three  again  at  one  and  the 
same  time, —  in  the  Congress  by  bill  to  repeal ;  in  the 
courts  by  suit  to  restrain  by  true  interpretation ;  and 
before  the  people,  as  the  sovereign,  the  master  of  all, 
by  argument.  Then  the  names  of  those  members  of  the 
Congress,  Senate  and  House,  and  also  those  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  who  should,  if  any  should  be  so  lost  to 
honor  and  conscience  as,  after  due  argument  and  en- 
lightened presentation  of  the  case,  again  so  to  hold,  could 
be  catalogued  in  a  roll  to  be  remembered  by  the  people, 
their  contemporaries  and  the  people  of  future  genera- 
tions in  everlasting  contrast  to  the  noble  spirits  of  1776; 
a  roll  to  be  held  and  read  in  everlasting  contrast  to  the 
roll  of  immortal  names  signed  to  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  those  signed  to  the  Constitution.  Let  this 
be  done  so  that  no  man  may  hope  that  the  people  may  not 
understand  his  act  by  reason  of  its  being  obscured  in 
the  files  of  congressional  enactments  or  in  the  files  of 
judicial  decision,  but  that  each  may  know  that  the  sov- 
ereign people  will  understand  and  hold  his  act  accord- 
ingly. 

Let  this  be   done  and  the  result  will   be  good.     The 

Micropoiis.  history  of  Micropolis  will  not  be  the  history  of  this 
country.  But  if  this  is  not  done,  then  the  imaginary 
history  of  the  imaginary  nation,  Micropolis,  will  be  the 

Mes-aionoiis.  actual  history  of  this  real  nation,  Megalopolis !  May 
it  not  be  that  the  people  of  this  land  should,  in  their 
agony,  ever  have  to  cry  out  from  the  chains  of  an  indus- 
trial slavery  far  more  galling  and  oppressive  than  those 


The   two 
rolls. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    325 

of   the    feudal   or   chattel   slavery !      No ;   the   prayer   is, 
May  God  give  the  remedy. 

But  should  it  be  the  case  that  the  said  court,  or  a  ma- 
jority thereof,  should,  even  from  the  principles  of  stare 
decisis  [to  stand  by  the  decisions]  or  other  reason  or 
other  motive,  again  so  hold,  let  a  copy  of  the  Constitution, 
the  immortal  document  of  the  Convention  of  1787,  be 
printed  and  placed  in  the  most  conspicuous  place  in  the 
best  museum  of  the  nation's  capital,  with  this  legend 
thereon :  — 

Abolished   by    Interpretation  ! 

while  the  patriots  of  the  convention.  Washington  and  his  constitu- 
compeers,  are  pictured  looking  on  in  sorrow  and  ex-  vv^shing- 
claiming:  — 

Abolished  by  Interpretation  ! 


ton    museum 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

Should  the  Whole  People  of  the  United  States  Ever 
Surrender  or  Grant  Away  from  Themselves  to  the 
Several  States  or  to  the  General  Government,  or  to 
Any  Branch  of  the  General  Government  or  to  Any 
Other  Power,  Their  Power  to  Declare  Tender,  Their 
Power  to  Say  What  Shall  be  the  Money  of  the 
United  States? 


No,    a    thou 
sand   tinu's 
no! 


Most    tre- 
mendous 
power. 


Suppositi- 
tious case. 


Intelligence  and  candor  and  fairness  and  "  common 
sense  "  and  business  sagacity  can  give  but  one  pos- 
sible answer  to  this  question,  and  that  is,  No,  a  thou- 
sand times,  no !  The  framers  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
sovereign  people  of  the  days  of  its  adoption  refused  to 
grant  this  power  away  from  the  whole  people ;  and  why 
should  their  descendants  do  so  now  or  at  any  other  time? 
Every  reason  bearing  on  the  subject  says,  No ;  and  not 
one,  Yes. 

This  is  the  most  tremendous  of  all  powers  of  govern- 
ment ;  and  if  possessed  by  one  man  or  a  body  of  men, 
can  at  any  moment  be  used  to  set  in  motion  those  forces 
that  would  rob  the  people  and  result  in  the  complete 
enslavement  of  the  people.  Suppose  some  man  in  this 
country  had  the  power  at  any  moment  and  of  his  own 
will  to  say  what  should  be  the  money  of  this  country ; 
and  suppose  when  the  people  of  the  land  awoke  on  the 
morrow,  they  should  see  posted  in  the  place  for  the  post- 
ing of  new  laws,  a  law  reading,  "  Henceforth  not  gold 
coin,  not  silver  coin,  or  other  thing  that  has  heretofore 
been  used  as  money  in  this  country,  shall  be  used  as 
326 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    327 

money,   but   that   some   new   thing,   naming   it,   shall   be 
the  money  of  the  land !  " 

It  would  be  the  utter  robbery  of  every  man  who  had 
the  old  money,  who  had  stored  his  labor  in  the  old  money,  Labor  stored 

.  .   .  1"  1   •  11  •        1      1    •  1 ''«    the    old 

the    thing    that    his   government   had    promised    him,    by  money. 
solemn  law  duly  passed  by  it,  should  pay  his  debts  ;  and 
also  the  robbery  of  every  man  who  had  stored  his  labor  Robbery] 
in  the  acquisition  of  the  materials  of  which  the  said  old 
money  was  made. 

Suppose  our  friends,  the  gentlemen  advocates  of  the 
"  gold  standard,"  should  have  the  value  of  their  money, 
the  gold  coin,  thus  legislated  out  of  it,  what  holy  hands 
of  horror  would  be  raised !  What  lamentations  for  the 
ruthless  dishonesty  of  the  times  would  be  heard  in  the 
land !  The  Jeremiad  of  the  Israelites  of  old  would  be  a  New- 
tame  thing  indeed  in  comparison.     The  manufactories  of  Manufac- 

...  .  ,  .  ,  .  .  tories    of 

public  sentiment  would  run  day  and  night  in  denunciation  public    senti- 
of  the  iniquity.     But  this  was  precisely  what  was  done 
to  the  owners   of   silver  money,  silver  coin,   silver   bul- 
lion and  silver  mines  in   1873  ;  and   when  those  owners 
mildly  indeed  —  for  they  did  not  seem  to  understand  or 
at   least   did   not   present   the   strength   of   their    case  — 
pointed  out  the  injustice  of  the  treatment  given  to  them 
they  were  called  opprobrious  names  by  men  whose  high  opprohri- 
position,    if   not   their   birth    and    breeding,    should    have  °u&   epithet8' 
taught  them  better,  to  wit,  Silver  Lunatics,  "  debasers  of  silver 
the  currency,"  etc.,  etc.     Even  the  amenities  of  social  life 
were  invaded  by  these  epithets,  and  the  mob  excited  to 
revile  him  who  dared  to  raise  voice  against  the  iniquity. 
Let  the  Gold  Solomon  beware ;  he  may  yet,  when  robbed, 
be  called  Gold  Lunatic,  because  he  seeks  a  remedy !     He  Gold 
might  do  well  to  call  to  mind  the  adage,  "  Much  wants     una  ,c* 
more  and  loses  all."    There  are  a  large  number  of  men  in 
this  country  who  honestly  believe  that  nothing  but  paper 


32 


S 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


should  be  money,  some  of  them  as  honest  men,  as  the 
author  believes,  as  any  this  or  any  other  country  affords. 
Suppose    those    men    should   get    the    ascendency    in   the 

The  party  ofCongress  and  therein  enact  a  statute  declaring  gold  coin 

money.  should  not   be   money,   but  paper  of   a  new   stamp   and 

design,  such  as  they  should  prescribe  should  be  the  only 

Rage  of        money !     Would  not  in  such  case  the  rage  of  the  Gold 

omons'.  Solomons    be    a    furious    rage,    and    their    manufactories 

of  public  sentiment  be  in  full  blast?  It  is  believed  that 
such  would  be  the  case. 

New  love.  It  is  believed  further  that  in  such  case  a  sudden  and 

intense  admiration  and  love  for  the  now-derided  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  would  spring  up.  "Pal- 
ladium of  American  Liberty  "  and  "  beacon  light  to  the 
nations  of  the  world  "  would  be  mild  forms  of  the  expres- 
sions of  love  and  admiration  that  would  be  heard. 

wise  people.  No  wise  people  should  ever  surrender  or  grant  away 
to  any  this  tremendous  power  of  declaring  money.  By 
such  power  the  people  could  be  ruined  by  setting  in 
motion  those  forces  that  would  ultimately  enslave  them. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  State  legislature  should  not 
be  entrusted  with  this  tremendous  power,  but  that  the 
national  legislature  should.  But  why  the  difference? 
Does  the  spirit  of  tyranny  and  greed  of  power  lessen  as 
the  members  of  a  body  of  men  increase  or  as  the  ter- 
ritory over  which  their  dominion  extends  increases?  Not 
so ;  rather  the  contrary.     It  is  common  knowledge  and 

Acts  of  cor- common   saving   that   men    in    corporation    will   say  and 

porate  ...  "  .  .  ...  ,   , 

bodies.  do   things    that    in    their   private    capacities    they    would 

scorn  to  do. 

Then  again,  the  perfect  answer,  did  not  the  Congress 

of  1873  even  usurp  the  power  to  demonetize  the  silver  of 
a  dreadful    the  money  of  the  United  States  ?    Did  that  Congress  not 

example. 

do  that  in  the  dark  —  secretly  ;  and  because  secretly,  sur- 


L,egisla- 
tures,  State 
and   Na- 
tional. 


Spirit     of 
tyranny. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    329 

reptitiously  ? — It   did.      It   is  no  answer  to   this  charge 

against  it  to  say  that  the  bill  therefor  was  "  pending  "  in 

the  Congress  two  or  three  years.     For  not  as  many  as 

five  members   of  that   Congress,   taking  the  Senate   and 

House  together,  ever  admitted  that  they  knew  what  was 

in  the  bill  of  demonetization.     And  in  the  nation  the  con-  An  act  in 

stituents  of  not  a  single  member  of  said  Congress  were 

ever  informed  of  the  pending  of  such  a  bill  or  of  the 

intention  to  bring  in  such   a  bill.      Not  a  single  public 

speech  was  ever  made  on  any   political   rostrum  in  the 

whole  country  concerning  the  bill  until  some  years  after 

it  had  passed.     Many  members  of  the  Congress  of  1873 

said  they  knew  nothing  of  the  bill  until  long  after  it  was 

on  the  statute  books;  among  them  Mr.  Blaine,  of  Maine, 

and  Mr.  Holman,  of  Indiana. 

It  was  several  years  after  the  statute  book  contained 
the  statute  before  the  people  knew  anything  about  it.  It 
was  like  a  poison  secretly  administered ;  the  victim  knows  secret 
nothing  of  it  until  his  vitals  are  attacked  and  death  stares 
him  in  the  face.  Thus  the  silver  demonetization  was  un- 
known to  the  people  until  the  silver  coin  began  to  fall 
in  value  and  silver  bullion  began  to  fall  in  value,  and 
even  then  it  was  some  time  before  the  cause  was  ascer- 
tained. At  first  no  one  denied  that  it  was  the  demoneti- 
zation of  silver  that  caused  its  fall  in  value  ;  but  afterward, 
when  the  shrewd  and  heartless  silver  demonetization  con- 
spirators saw  the  gross  ignorance  on  the  subject  of  money, 
they  adopted  the  tactics  of  fooling  the  people  in  the  dis- 
cussion thereon,  saying  demonetization  of  silver  did  not  Deception. 
cause  its  fall  in  price,  and  proving  it  by  the  admissions 
of  the  silver  men  that  the  silver  that  was  coined  was 
money,  and  showing  on  such  admission  that  there  was 
more  silver  coin  in  circulation  in  the  United  States  than 
ever  before,  more  silver  used  than  ever  before,  and  yet 


330  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Cannot  be 
trusted. 


Fatal  admis-the  fall  in  its  price.  O,  ye  silver  men,  fatal,  fatal  was 
your  admission !  It,  with  other  admissions,  lost  you  the 
battle,  so  much  flowed  from  those  admissions. 

Can  a  body  that  thus,  through  ignorance,  or  with 
knowledge  but  with  design,  and  even  with  usurped  power 
and  secretly  and  surreptitiously,  demonetized  one-half  or 
a  very  large  part  of  the  money  of  the  country,  be  trusted 
with  the  whole  of  it  ?  —  No ;  not  with  the  whole  of  the 
money  of  the  country  nor  with  any  part  of  it.  The  people 
themselves  should  ever  hold  this  power  in  their  own 
hands.  And  should  the  time  ever  come  when  the  situa- 
tion honestly  requires  a  change  in  the  country's  money, 
let  application  to  the  people  therefor  be  made  by  con- 
stitutional amendment  as  the  Constitution  requires.  Then 
if,  after  discussion  and  investigation,  a  change  is  needed, 
let  the  lawful  power  of  the  people  make  it  and  not  the 
usurped  power  of  the  Congress. 


The   lawful 
and   proper 
way    to 
change. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

The  Parity. 

What  makes  the  silver  coin  pass  in  the  trade  of  the 
country  for  as  much  as  the  gold  coin? 

The  answers  that  the  author  has  heard  given 
to  this  question  are  various  and  amusing.  A  few  only  can 
be  given  here  :  — 

First,  that  the  silver  coin  passing  in  the  trade  of  the  First  an- 
country  for  as  much  as  the  gold  coin  shows  that  silver  not  demon- 
has  not  been  demonetized.  To  prove  this  men  would  hold 
up  a  dollar  or  half-dollar,  and  say,  "  With  five  of  this  (the 
dollar),  or  ten  of  this  (the  half-dollar),  I  can  buy  any- 
where in  the  United  States  just  as  much  as  you  can  with 
your  five-dollar  gold-piece.  That  shows  that  silver  has  not 
been  demonetized,  and  all  your  clamor  is  foolish !  "  Score 
another  triumph  for  the  Gold  Solomons !  For  nothing 
could  convince  the  man  of  his  error. 

Second,  the  stamp  of  the  government  is  given  as  the  second  an- 
cause,  the  men  claiming  that  whatever  has  the  stamp  of  ofTiie V<>"-r 
the  government  on  it  is  money.     In  that  case  the  national 
bank  notes  would  be  money,  and  indeed  anything  having 
the  government  stamp.     It  is  supposed,  if  the  government  a   commem- 
or  Congress  should  have  a  medal  of  gold,  silver  or  bronze  medal, 

i      •  •  r  ....        Money. 

struck  in  commemoration  of  some  great  event  in  its  his- 
tory, that  would  be  money  too ! 

When  asked  to  explain  how  the  "  stamp  of  the  govern- 
ment "  makes  a  thing  money,  the  only  answer  ever  given 
was,  "  It  doe*  it  —  the  government  can  do  that !  "     Other 

331 


332  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


The    how. 


The   true 
reason. 


Check 
received. 
Check 
refused. 


Check    for 
$100. 


Check   for 
$1,000. 


mistaken  views  have  been  stated,  but  it  is  useless  to  men- 
tion them  here. 

The  true  reason  why  the  silver  coin  passes  for  its  face 
or  denominational  value  is  just  the  same  reason  that  any 
man's  check  passes  for  its  face  value,  to  wit,  because  the 
gold  coin,  the  money,  the  tender,  is  behind  it.  Let  it  be 
understood  that  when  a  check  is  offered  in  payment  that 
that  check  will  not  be  paid  in  gold  coin,  tender,  money, 
then  its  refusal  is  instantaneous.  It  makes  no  difference 
who  draws  the  check,  if  it  is  known  that  it  will  not  be  paid 
in  money,  that  is,  gold  coin,  the  tender,  then  it  is  refused, 
no  man  will  take  it.  And  why  should  any  one  take  it? 
The  law  does  not  compel  him  to  take  it,  and  he  cannot  pay 
his  debt  with  it,  therefore  it  is  of  no  service  to  him. 

In  a  conversation  had  in  1896  with  an  elderly  gentle- 
man, in  which  he  showed  a  banker's  magazine  showing 
the  increase  of  the  "  money  "  in  circulation  in  the  United 
State  since  the  year  1800,  this  occurred :  — 

The  author  said,  "  None  of  those  things  mentioned  in 
said  magazine  as  money  are  money  except  the  gold  coin." 
The  elderly  gentleman  said,  "  Then  why  do  men  take  them 
as  money?"  Author:  'For  the  same  reason  that  you 
would  take  my  check,  or  any  other  man's  check.  Let  me 
illustrate :  Suppose  you  had  some  article  of  value  here 
that  I  wanted,  and  I  said  that  I  would  give  you  a  hundred 
dollars  for  it,  and  you  said,  \\"ell,  you  can  have  it  at 
that  price.'  Then  I  draw  you  a  check  on  my  banker  for  a 
hundred  dollars  ;  would  you  take  the  check  and  deliver 
me  the  article?  "  E.  G. :  "  Yes,  I  would."  Author:  "  Sup- 
pose the  article  was  worth  and  had  been  sold  to  me  by 
you  for  one  thousand  dollars,  would  you  then  deliver  me 
the  article  on  my  giving  you  a  check  for  a  thousand  dollars 
therefor?  "  E.  G. :  "  Yes  ;  1  have  known  you  a  long  time, 
and  I  would  be  willing  to  take  your  check  for  a  thousand 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    333 

dollars."    Author :  "Again,  suppose  the  article,  say  a  large 

cluster   of   diamonds,   was   worth   a   million    dollars,   and  Diamonds: 

check    for 

you  had  sold  them  to  me  for  a  million  dollars,  would  you  $1,000,000: 
deliver  the  diamonds  on  my  giving  you  a  check  for  a  mil- 
lion dollars?"  E.  G. :  "Well,  no;  I  have  known  you 
a  long  time,  and  I  believe  you  to  be  an  honest  man  ;  but 
I  do  not  know  how  you  could  get  a  million  dollars !  " 
Author :  "  So  I  supposed ;  your  faith  in  my  having  gold 
coin  for  my  checks  ceased  before  it  reached  the  million- 
dollar  point."  Just  so,  the  silver  coin  will  cease  to  pass 
for  its  face  value  as  soon  as  faith  in  its  redemption  in  gold 
coin  ceases. 

So  it  is  with  the  silver  coin.  As  long  as  the  gold  coin, 
the  tender,  is  behind  it,  it  is  all  right.  When  the  gold  coin 
is  not  behind  it,  it  is  all  wrong. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  silver  coins ;  they  pass  because 
the  government  redeems  them,  or  is  ready  to  redeem  them 
in  gold  coin  whenever  any  one  presents  them  to  it  for  re- 
demption.    Let  it  be  understood  that  the  government  will 
not  redeem  its  demonetized  silver  coin  in  gold  coin,  and 
the  silver  coin  would  instantly  fall  in  value  to  the  price 
of  the  corresponding  amount  of  silver  bullion,  and  prob- 
ably it  would  be  refused  altogether.     For  men  would  say,  That   which 
and  reasonably  say,  we  will  not  take  in  payment  of  debts  debtsnwiiipa5 
to  us  that  which  we  cannot  pay  our  debts  with  !     Who  ?n  payment6™ 
could  blame  them  for  so  saying?    That  which  will  not  pay 
out  should  not  be  taken  in.     True,  in  the  smaller  trans- 
actions of  the  poor,  ten  dollars  in  fractional  silver  coin 
in  any  one  payment  would,  by  the  poor,  have  to  be  taken  The  poor, 
in  payment,  as  the  law  of  the  Congress  so  says.     But  in  and  the  '"m- 
all  payments  above  ten  dollars  gold  coin  would  have  to  be 
obtained.    True,  again,  in  all  contracts  of  the  uninformed 
and  the  unwary  who  do  not  contract  for  gold  coin,  pay- 
ment could,  under  the  enactment  of  the  Congress,  be  made 


334  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


in  the  silver  dollars,  that  is,  the  "  standard  dollars,"  not 
in  the  fractional  silver  coin,  but  the  dollar  pieces. 

But  it  is  clearly  to  be  seen  that  the  "  fractional  silver  " 
coin,  except  to  the  amount  of  ten  dollars,  in  any  one  pay- 
ment, passes  in  the  trade  and  business  of  the  country  at 
its  face  value  simply  because  the  government  redeems 
them  in  gold  coin,  and  likewise  that  the  "  silver  dollar  " 
passes  at  its  face  value,  except  in  the  contracts  of  the  unin- 
formed and  the  unwary,  because  the  government  redeems 
them  too  in  money,  that  is,  gold  coin,  the  tender. 

Let  it  be  understood  that  the  government  would  not 

redeem  the  silver  coins  in  gold  coin,  and  instantly  they 

would  fall  to  the  bullion  value,  except  in  the  two  cases 

mentioned,  to  wit,  ten  dollars  in  any  one  payment,  and 

Soon  no  one  in  the  contracts  of  the  uninformed  and  the  unwary.    And 

would    take  -_.,.. 

the  silver  very  soon  all  would  become  sufficiently  informed  and  wary 
to  refuse  to  make  contracts  unless  the  contracts  were  made 
"  payable  in  gold  coin  of  the  United  States." 

Therefore  the  silver  coins  pass  at  their  face  value  for 
the  same  reason  that  a  man's  check  passes  at  its  face  value. 

This  is  the  whole  matter;  the  silver  coins  pass  at  their 
face  value  because  the  government  says  it  stands  ready 
to  redeem  them  in  gold  coin,  the  tender  of  this  country, 
the  money  of  this  country,  and  the  only  money  of  this 
country  so  long  as  the  unconstitutional  silver  demonetiza- 
tion acts  are  held  valid. 

Of  course,  this  leaves  the  greenbacks  out  of  the  dis- 
cussion, for  as  to  them  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  says  they  are  tender,  money,  and  the  various  ad- 
ministrations since  1873  say  they  are  not  tender,  money, 
because  those  administrations  say  that  they  will  redeem 
those  likewise  in  gold  coin.  Thus  practically  everything 
Redeeming  is  demonetized  but  gold  coin.  Think  of  redeeming  money 
money!  *™      with  money  !    If  silver  coin  were  tender,  money,  to  redeem 


The   whole 
matter. 


Greenbacks. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    335 
them  with  gold  coins  would  be  as  absurd  as  to  redeem  Redeeming 

0  ;i   twentj  - 

one  gold  coin  with  another,  to  wit,  as  an  eagle  with  two  <i<>iiar  goid- 

0  ,      piece    with    a 

half-eagles,  or  a  double-eagle  with  two  eagles  or  four  hall-  twenty-doi- 

.  .  c  lar   sold- 

eagles  ;  that  is,  a  ten-dollar  gold  coin  with  two  five-dollar  piece! 

gold  coins,  or  a  twenty-dollar  gold  coin  with  two  ten-  or 

four  five-dollar  gold  coins.    Redeeming  the  Redeemer!!!  Adeeming 

0  —  the   re- 

This  too  is  the  meaning  of  paritv.     Parity  means  equal-  <icemer! 

0  .  Parity   is 

ity,  coming  from  the  Latin  word  par,  meaning  equal.  It  equality. 
is  simply  keeping  all  the  money  of  a  country,  the  tender 
of  the  country,  on  an  equality  with  each  other.  The  gov- 
ernment should  always  endeavor  to  do  this.  The  single 
standard  men,  the  Gold  Solomons,  say  this  cannot  be 
done,  and  for  that  reason  silver  should  be  demonetized ! 
Shades  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira !    Was  it  not  done  from  Shades  of 

r>  o         1        xt        t|,e     untruth- 

the  formation  of  the  government  in  1789  to  1073:     l\o  fun 
one  ever  heard  of  a  dealer  putting  a  silver  price  on  his 
goods,  or  a  gold  price  on  his  goods,  before  silver  demon- 
etization  in    1873.     He  simply   sold  his  goods,   and  the  one  price; 

•  1  1  1  •  1  ■  1       r  no*  a  si'ver 

buyer,  whether  he  paid  cash  or  got  credit  and  paid  after  price   and   a 

.  .  ,    .  ,  it-  -i  sold    price. 

a  time,  simply  paid  in  what  money,  gold  coin  or  silver 
coin,  that  he  pleased.  The  "  double  standard,"  gold  coin 
and  silver  coin  as  tender,  as  money,  existed  in  every  coun- 
try in  Europe  until  18 16,  the  time  of  silver  demonetization 
in  England,  and  there  was  no  trouble  as  to  parity.  Men 
bought  and  sold,  did  business  of  all  kinds  without  the 
slightest  trouble.     It  is  true,  that  sometimes  silver  bullion  shipments 

0  .of    silver 

would  be  a  little  higher  in  our  countrv  than  in  some  other,  coin  ami 

•        '  1  1         1  1  bullion. 

and  shipments  of  bullion  and  com  would  take  place  ac- 
cordingly ;  and  again  gold  bullion  would  be  higher  in  our 
countrv  than  in  some  other,  and  corresponding  shipments  shipments 

1  °  of    gold    coin 

of  gold  bullion  and  gold  coin  would  be  made.     But  no  and  bullion. 
harm  came  therefrom.     The  people  carried  on  their  busi-  Little,  if  any 

'  .  harm. 

ness  without  being  aware  of  it.  The  dealers  in  money  and 
bullion  would  know  it,  and  sometimes  make  something 


33^ 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Scarcity  of 
any   article 
causes  im- 
portations 
of   it. 


Teaches 
humanity. 


from  shipping  bullion  to  different  countries,  but  little,  if 
any,  harm  came  from  it.  Scarcity  of  any  article  or  com- 
modity in  one  country  causes  shipments  of  that  article  or 
commodity  thereto.  It  is,  it  would  seem,  the  natural 
thing ;  the  Creator  has  formed  different  countries  for  the 
production  of  the  different  articles  and  commodities,  thus 
Nations,  as  making  mankind  dependent  on  one  another,  not  only  as 
pendent.  between  man  and  man,  neighborhood  and  neighborhood, 
but  also  as  between  nation  and  nation,  thus  teaching  man 
humanity,  kindness  and  mutual  aid  rather  than  inhu- 
manity, unkindness  and  mutual  destruction.  And  yet  in- 
humanity, unkindness  and  mutual  destruction  between 
man  and  man,  nation  and  nation,  exists.  When  in  the 
progress  of  the  ages  man  learns  his  great  lesson  that  love 
and  not  hate  is  the  true  law  of  his  being,  they  will  cease. 
Then  by  each  and  all  working,  not  for  self,  but  for  each 
and  all,  the  vision  of  the  Edenic  paradise  will  be  realized 
in  fact.  When  the  "  sermon  on  the  mount  "  is  in  fact  in- 
stead of  fiction  the  Magna  Charta  of  church  and  state, 
then  most,  indeed  it  is  believed  all,  of  the  evils  that  now  so 
greatly  afflict  the  races  of  men  will  cease.  The  word 
"  paradise  "  means  garden,  and  when  all  work  for  all, 
instead  of  each  working  for  himself  alone,  the  world  will 
be  a  garden,  the  true  Edenic  garden !  Large  enough  for 
all,  plenty  in  it  for  all,  because  no  part  of  it  needed  will 
be  uncultivated,  held  for  speculative  purposes  on  an  antici- 
pated rising  market.  All  the  earth  will  be  used,  and  there- 
fore no  man  on  it,  much  less  nation,  will  be  in  need  of  part 
of  it  for  his  use. 
of  The  variation  between  the  legal  ratios  (that  is,  the 
ratios  fixed  by  law)  and  the  market  ratio  (the  ratio  of  the 
market),  the  gold  coins  and  the  silver  coins,  was  always 
small,  usually  being  less  than  one  per  cent,  but  sometimes 
reaching  to  two  or  three ;  as  stated  above,  so  small  that 


Variation 
the  ratio 
small. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    337 

the  ordinary  tradesman,  merchant,  mechanic,  farmer,  law- 
yer, doctor  or  clergyman  knew  nothing  about  it.  And 
latterly  we  are  told  that  because  the  legal  and  the  com- 
mercial ratio  cannot  be  exactly  perfect,  the  demonetiza-  Exact 
tion  of  silver  was  necessary !  As  well  say  that  because 
man  cannot  make  two  clocks  keep  exactly  the  same  time,  Exact  time- 
the  world  should  have  but  one  clock ;  or  that  because  a 
man  and  his  wife  cannot  always  think  exactly  alike,  they 
should  get  a  divorce ! 

Nothing  in  nature  is  made  that  way.  You  never  see 
in  nature  a  perfect  square,  cube,  circle  or  right  angle,  and 
if  man  has  ever  made  a  perfect  one,  the  achievement  is 
rare.    Usually  it  is  onlv  an  approach  to  perfection,  in  those  only  an  ap- 

„,  ,       r  .        .  proach   to 

matters  or  in  any  other  matters,      the  goal  01  perfection  perfection. 
is  man's  stimulus  to  exertions.     Should  he  reach  it  in  one 
thing,   it   is   quite  probable  that   staleness   would   suffuse 
his  mind  and  benumb  his  faculties  as  to  that  thing ;  and 
were  he  to  reach  it  in  all  things,  then,  if  the  law  held,  he 
would  become  a  vast  staleness,  or  rather,  then  he  would  stateness. 
be  —  God !     His  nature  would  then  be  divine,  the  stale-  God! 
ness  cured ;  because  perfection  exists  only   in  the   Most 
High.     It  is  childish,  idle,  frivolous  to  say  that  because 
the   legal   and   the   commercial    ratios   between   gold   and 
silver  coin  cannot  be  perfect,  it  must  not  be  at  all.     That 
argument  would  destroy  the  Gold  Solomon  himself ;  for,  Gold  Soi- 

,  .  onion    abol- 

in  all  eyes  but  his  own,  he  is  not  perfect.  »shes  him- 

It  is  indeed  strange  that  this  impossibility  of  exact 
parity  and  its  dire  results  should  never  have  been  dis- 
covered until  the  industrial  conspiracy  was  formed !  From 
the  days  of  Abraham  and  Homer  at  least,  down  to  the 
formation  of  that  conspiracy,  a  sufficiently  exact  parity 
between  them  was  maintained,  and  even  now  there  could  From  Abra- 
easily  be  maintained  between   them   a  parity   sufficiently  11'omeV  to 

,.  ,,  ,  ,  .  industrial 

exact  for  all  men  but  those  conspirators,  conspirators. 

22 


33« 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Silver  can  be 
used  in   large 
transac- 
tions,   gold 
not  in  small. 


Disturbed 
parity     rule, 
gold  should 
have    been 
demonetized. 


Temporary 
disturbance. 


Wheat   and 
maize. 


Gold  and 
silver. 


Mutual 
cheek    and 
balance. 


Scientific 
money. 


In  truth,  with  the  law  as  to  ratios,  the  parity,  fixed,  as 
it  is  in  the  Constitution,  and  honestly  and  fairly  and  rigidly 
maintained,  there  would  be  little  trouble  about  parity. 
Was  there  any  trouble  about  parity  in  1873  when  the 
silver  demonetization  took  place?  If  any  it  was  in  favor 
of  silver,  because  at  that  time  silver  was  at  a  premium  of 
three  per  cent  over  gold!  Then  it  would  seem  that  if  a 
disturbed  parity  was  to  rule,  gold  should  have  been  the 
metal  to  be  displaced,  to  be  demonetized,  for  that  was  the 
metal  that  was  losing  in  value.  Silver  coin  can  be  used  as 
the  money  of  the  rich, —  the  money,  the  tender,  of  the 
large  dealers, —  but  gold  coin  cannot  be  used  as  the  money 
of  the  poor,  for  as  stated  heretofore,  it  cannot  be  coined 
in  sufficiently  small  pieces.  So  with  silver  demonetization, 
the  poor  have  no  money,  no  tender,  but  mere  token.  This 
is  not  right,  it  is  unfair. 

A  temporary  disturbance  of  parity  between  gold  and 
silver  coin  should  not  destroy  the  money  of  a  country  any 
more  than  the  temporary  disturbance  of  the  parity  be- 
tween wheat  and  maize  should  destroy  the  bread  of  a 
country.  On  the  contrary,  the  two  mutually  aid  and  re- 
strain each  other.  When  wheat  is  too  high,  bread  is 
made  from  maize,  and  this  brings  maize  up  and  wheat 
down ;  and  when  maize  is  too  high,  bread  is  made  of 
wheat,  and  this  brings  wheat  up  and  maize  down.  So 
it  would  be  with  gold  and  silver.  When  gold  is  scarce 
and  high,  money  could  be  made  of  silver ;  and  when 
silver  is  scarce  and  high,  money  could  be  made  of 
gold,  the  two  metals  aiding  and  restraining,  bal- 
ancing and  counterbalancing  each  other  as  demand 
called,  thus  securing  the  nearest  approach  to  a 
scientific  money  of  which  the  world  has  any  knowl- 
edge, nature  affording  the  supply  and  man  merely  using 
that  supply.     When  money  is  made  of  paper,  a  compar- 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    339 

ativelv  valueless  thing,  and  practically,  for  the  purposes 
of  money,  capable  of  being  manufactured  to  an  unlimited 
extent,  then  those  having  the  power  to  so  make,  will 
make  when  they  have  need  of  money,  regardless  of  the 
quantity  heretofore  made  by  them.  They  will  supply  the 
demand  by  the  printing  press  instead  of  taxing.  The  tax- 
ing might  render  them  unpopular ;  the  printing  might 
cause  them  to  be  hailed  as  saviors  of  their  country !  His- 
tory shows  that  such  things  have  happened,  but  the  ficti- 
tious saviors  have  afterward  been  execrated  by  the  people, 
in  their  agonies  of  suffering  caused  by  such  acts  of  such 
saviors.  Such  saviors  are  borne  in  triumph  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  the  populace  to-day,  but  in  tumbrils  to  the  guillo- 
tine to-morrow  ! 

Wisdom  says  tax  and  not  print.  The  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  wisely  says  tax  and  not  print.  And  woe 
be  to  the  people  that  grants  away  from  itself  the  power  to 
say  what  shall  be  its  money ! 

That  at  times  some  variation  should  occur  between  the 
legal  and  commercial  ratio  makes  little  difference,  indeed, 
no  difference;  for  thus  is  Nature  made  throughout  her 
vast  domains,  and  man  can  wisely  control  those  variations 
for  his  benefit.  He  can  easily  do  so  with  the  "  double 
standard  "  of  the  true  scientific  money,  the  gold  coin  and 
the  silver  coin  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

The  Gresham  Law.— -The  Gresham  law  is  not  lost 
sight  of  here.  That  law  is  no  new  discovery ;  it  was 
known  before  Sir  Thomas  Gresham  made  his  announce- 
ment of  it.  The  law  is  that  when  there  are  two  kinds  of 
money  in  a  country,  and  the  parity  becomes  disturbed,  the 
cheaper  one  drives  out  the  dearer  one.  That  is  true,  but  No  harm. 
what  harm  comes  therefrom?  When  there  are  two  ma- 
terials in  a  country  of  which  bread  is  made,  the  cheaper 
one  sometimes  drives  the  dearer  one  to  other  countries. 


3-fO  Thirty  Years1  War  on  Silver 

But  harm  does  not  always  come  to  the  country  from  which 
the  dearer  material  is  driven.  Sometimes  much  good 
comes  therefrom,  because  it  brings  from  foreign  countries 
articles  much  needed  in  the  country  from  which  the  dear 

Disparity  article  is  driven.  Better  have  disparity  in  value  between 
'  wheat  and  maize  than  a  scarcity  of  bread  in  the  country ; 
so  it  were  better  to  have  a  disparity  between  gold  coins 
and  silver  coins  than  a  scarcity  of  money  in  the  country ! 
If  the  question  came  to  choice  between  disparity  and 
scarcity,  then  disparity  is  the  lesser  evil,  and  should  be 
chosen.     The  great  underlying  principle  of  what  is  called 

TiieGresham  the  Gresham  law,  to  wit,  the  cheaper  tinner  driving  out  of 

law.  rm  _  °  ° 

use  the  dearer  thing  when  the  choice  is  in  him  who  is  to 
deliver  the  thing,  applies  to  all  transactions  ;  it  is  not  lim- 
ited to  money. 

Illustrations :  A  agrees  to  deliver  to  B  a  coat,  simply  a 
coat,  no  special  material  or  make  contracted  for.  A  has 
two  coats,  a  very  fine  and  costly  one  and  a  coarser  and 
cheaper  one.  Which  will  A  deliver?  It  is  believed  that 
it  will  be  the  coarser  and  cheaper  coat,  and  also  that  in 
nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  every  thousand 
the  acts  of  men  would  be  similar. 

Again  A  has  agreed  to  deliver  to  B  a  hundred  horses, 
no  special  kind  being  contracted  for.  A  has  a  hundred 
very  fine  thoroughbred  horses,  worth  thousands  of  dol- 
lars, and  also  a  hundred  ordinary,  common  horses  worth 
far  less.  Which  will  A  deliver  to  B  in  discharge  of  his 
obligation,  having  option  to  deliver  either?  It  is  confi- 
dently believed  that  the  delivery  of  the  ordinary,  common 
horses  will  be  made,  and  that  such  would  be  the  case  with 
nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  in  every  thousand  men  who 
were  similarly  placed. 

The  law  is  not  limited  to  money,  but  applies  to  all  sub- 
jects.    It  is,  when  truly  considered,  an  application  of  a 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    341 

deeper  law,  the  great  law  of  "  economics  "  that  Henry  Henry 
George  so  clearly  presented,  that  men  gratify  their  desires  weeper'  law. 
at  the  smallest  possible  cost.  The  law  might  be  extended 
in  statement  to  cover  the  aspect  of  the  principle  that  men 
relieve  their  necessities  at  the  smallest  possible  cost. 
There  is  a  necessity  upon  man  to  discharge  his  obligations, 
a  legal  necessity,  otherwise  his  property  will  be  taken  and 
sold  to  discharge  them.  True,  it  might  well  be  said  that 
man's  desire  is  to  relieve  his  necessities,  and  that  relieving 
his  necessities  is  after  all  but  a  mode  of  gratifying  his 
desires;  and  therefore  that  the  formula  of  Mr.  George, 
that  men  gratify  their  desires  at  the  smallest  possible  cost, 
covers  the  case.  So  let  it  be.  for  in  either  case  the  same 
purpose  is  served  here.  It  shows  in  either  view  that  Mr. 
George  has  made  a  deeper  and  broader  generalization  than  Broader 
Sir  Thomas  Gresham.  Sir  Thomas  only  saw  and  said  tion!*  Iza" 
that  men  would  relieve  their  necessity  of  paving  their 
debts  with  the  smallest  possible  exertion,  the  cheaper  way 
being  the  smallest  possible  exertion  that  will  pay  them  ; 
while  Mr.  George  saw  and  stated  the  deeper  and  broader 
law  that  includes  the  Gresham  law,  that  men  will  relieve 
all  their  necessities,  and  not  only  their  necessities  of  pay- 
ing their  debts,  by  the  smallest  possible  exertion.  Whether 
it  is  said  that  the  law  is  that  men  gratify  their  desires  by 
the  smallest  possible  exertion,  or  that  they  relieve  their 
necessities  by  such  exertion,  it  is  all  the  same.  The 
broader  law  includes  the  narrower  law,  rather  specific  in- 
stance of  the  broader  law ;  the  broader  law  of  gratifying 
all  desire  or  relieving  all  necessity  includes  the  specific 
case,  rather  than  the  law  of  gratifying  one's  desire  to  pay 
his  debt  or  relieving  his  necessity  to  pay  debts  by  the 
smallest  possible  exertion. 

It  was  said  above  that  disparity  would  be  better  than 
scarcity.    That  is  true  ;  but  it  will  never  come  to  that.    De- 


342  Thirty  Years1  War  on  Silver 


Demoneti- 
zation pro- 
duced   dis- 
parity.    . 
Remoneti- 
zation    will 
produce 
parity. 


Moral 
murder. 


Obey    Con- 
stitution, 
and    no    fear, 


A    political 
platform. 


Perversion 
of    it. 


"  Why    did 

Colorado 
and     Nevada 
take    to    the 
woods?  " 


monetization  of  silver  produced  disparity ;  and  now  the 
Gold  Solomons  claim  that  disparity  should  prevent  remon- 
etization  of  silver !  A  disease  is  produced  by  a  certain 
cause,  and  then  those  wanting  the  death  of  the  patient 
urge  the  existence  of  the  disease  as  a  reason  for  not  re- 
moving the  cause !  That  would  be  moral  murder !  So 
here,  those  wanting  the  death  of  silver,  urge  its  fall  in 
value  caused  by  its  demonetization  as  a  reason  for  not  re- 
monetizing. 

Remonetize  silver !  Obey,  ye  senators  and  congress- 
men, your  oaths  of  office  to  support,  protect  and  defend 
the  Constitution  of  your  country,  and  you  need  have  no 
fears  about  parity  or  disparity.  Demonetization  produced 
disparity  ;  remonetization  will  produce  parity. 

In  the  Congress  the  parity  clause  of  the  platform  of 
one  political  party, —  that  clause  that  said  it  was  the  policy 
of  that  party  and  of  the  government  to  keep  the  parity 
in  the  money  of  the  country,  that  is,  between  the  gold 
coins  and  the  silver  coins, —  was  very  adroitly  and 
grossly  perverted  to  mean  it  was  the  policy  of  that  party 
to  keep  silver  demonetized !  Gross  perversion  indeed ! 
Had  that  been  the  real  meaning  of  the  platform  it  would 
never  have  been  adopted.  Of  course  it  was  the  policy 
of  that  party,  and  should  be  the  policy  of  every  honest 
party  and  honest  man,  to  keep  the  parity,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  done.  That  goes  without  saying.  And  when  in  the 
Congress  succeeding  that  platform  and  the  nomination 
thereon,  a  distinguished  orator  from  New  York  trium- 
phantly asked  the  question,  "If  the  said  platform  were 
not  a  gold  platform,  why  did  Colorado  and  Nevada 
take  to  the  woods  ?  " —  meaning  that  those  States  in  the 
election  that  had  just  taken  place  voted  against  the  nom- 
inee of  the  party  for  president, —  he  should  have  been  told 
then  and  there,  not  now  and  here :  Because  although  you 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    343 

gave  us  a  silver  platform,  you  put  a  gold  man  on  it.  That  silver  Piat- 
is  the  truth.  The  platform  was  for  silver,  but  its  nom-  man 'on  it. 
inee  was  for  gold ;  and  that  fact  caused  Nevada  and  Col- 
orado to  vote  against  the  party  nominee.  The  use  of  the 
word  parity,  in  the  meaning  of  a  gold  platform,  was  a 
gross  and  daring  perversion.  When  there  is  but  one  metal 
used  as  money,  how  could  there  be  disparity  ?  Could  one 
gold  twenty-dollar  piece,  ten-dollar  piece  or  five-dollar 
piece  be  worth  less  in  the  market  than  another  gold 
twenty-,  ten-  or  five-dollar  piece? 

Silver  Overvalued  :  Gold  Overvalued. —  It  has  been 
again  and  again  stated  by  the  Gold  Solomons  that  at  one 
time  the  United  States  undervalued  gold  in  its  coinage 
laws  by  making  the  ratio  fifteen  and  a  half  to  one,  that  is,  Ratio,  isy2 
making  one  ounce  of  gold  equal  to  fifteen  and  a  half 
ounces  of  silver,  and  that  in  consequence  all  of  the  gold 
was  driven  out  of  the  country  by  the  cheap  but  overvalued 
metal,  silver.  If  true,  what  harm  was  done?  The  busi- 
ness of  the  country  went  forward  undiminished,  and  the 
country  at  that  very  time  flourished  and  prospered  as 
nation  has  rarely  ever  flourished  and  prospered  on  this 
earth.  Again,  it  is  stated  that  at  another  time  the  United 
States  undervalued  silver  in  its  coinage  laws,  making  the 
ratio  sixteen  to  one,  that  is,  sixteen  ounces  of  silver  equal  Ratio  i<5 
to  one  ounce  of  gold,  and  that  the  cheaper  and  overvalued 
metal,  gold,  drove  all  the  silver  out  of  the  country.  Al- 
though true,  again,  what  harm  ?  —  None  ;  at  that  time  too 
the  prosperity  of  the  country  was  great. 

But  neither  of  those  statements  are  true.  There  was  Not  true. 
some  tendency  of  the  kind  mentioned.  At  the  one  time 
some  gold  went  out  of  the  country,  and  at  the  other  time 
some  silver  went ;  but  in  each  case  enough  remained  for  all 
practical  purposes,  and  the  country  flourished  and  pros- 
pered. 


344  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Silver 
"  raw  head 
and   bloody 
bones." 


Conspiracy 
of  greed. 


French 
indemnity. 


Six     hundred 
millions    of 
dollars    in 
gold   coin. 


Germany    in 

financial 

straits. 


Silver  Monometalism  :  Gold  Monometalism. — 
Let  not  the  alleged  silver  monometalism  of  the  one  period 
nor  the  alleged  gold  monometalism  of  the  other  period 
alarm  any  one ;  no  inference  of  evil  can  come  from  those 
sources.  Indeed,  the  silver  monometalism  that  was  set  up 
as  a  "  scarecrow  "  in  the  campaign  of  1900,  should  not 
frighten  intelligent  men  and  women ;  and  the  "  nursery 
tale  "  of  the  silver  "  raw  head  and  bloody  bones  "  coming 
to  seize  and  carry  off  sweet  little  America's  prosperity 
may  frighten  the  intellectual  children  in  the  nursery  of 
'  Uncle  Sam,"  but  not  the  intellectually  grown-up  men 
and  women  on  his  farm,  in  his  workshops  or  in  his  pro- 
fessions. 

The  Cause  of  Germany's  Demonetization  of  Sil- 
ver.— We  have  seen  the  cause  of  the  silver  demonetization 
in  the  United  States ;  to  wit,  a  conspiracy  for  greed  in  a 
few  persons.  The  people  never  did  it ;  they  knew  nothing 
of  it.  The  large  majority  of  the  Congress  never  did  it; 
even  they  knew  nothing  of  it !  But  what  caused  Ger- 
many to  demonetize  silver  ?  It  was  the  large  indemnity  in 
gold  that  the  German  government  got  from  the  French 
people  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Franco-German  war  in 
1870  that  caused  Germany  to  demonetize  silver.  The 
indemnity  then  received  by  Germany  was  six  hun- 
dred million  dollars  in  gold,  besides  gold  checks 
payable  in  London  and  other  places.  Then  those  man- 
aging German  affairs, —  not  its  people, —  said  in  act,  if 
not  in  words,  we  will  demonetize  silver  and  thus  in- 
crease the  value  of  this  immense  amount  of  gold  that  we 
now  have.  Was  the  motive  a  worthy  one?  We  leave  the 
reader  to  judge.  But  see  how  it  is  with  Germany  to-day: 
she  too  is  in  fitiancial  straits.  It  has  been  stated  that  Bis- 
marck before  his  death  saw  the  error  of  silver  demonetiza- 
tion on  the  part  of  Germany  and  regretted  it  deeply. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    345 

Germany's  legislative  increase  of  the  value  of  the  im- 
mense gold  indemnity  that  she  had,  lasted  only  for  a 
time.  Real  prosperity  for  a  whole  nation  or  people  must 
be  based  on  a  more  solid  foundation.  The  increased  value 
of  the  gold  made  for  the  benefit  of  Germany's  moneyed 
class,  but  for  the  injury  of  Germany's  poor  and  middle 
class.  Hence  the  cry  of  distress  that  the  lips  of  the  Ger- 
man poor  and  middle  class  to-day  send  up  to  the  ears  of 
the  German  emperor  and  nobles.  Scarce  money  makes 
low  valuation  in  lands,  labor  and  the  products  of  labor ; 
and  lauds,  labor  and  labor's  products  are  at  low  valuations 
in  Germany  to-day. 

England's  Demonetization. —  England's  conduct  in 
demonetizing  silver  is  remarkable.     That  country  legis- 
lates the  money  function  out  of  silver  and  into  the  Bank  Bank  of 
of  England  notes.     Such  is  the  case  if  the  statements  of  notlsantender 
"  gold  standard  "  writers  like  Jevons  and  others  may  be 
relied  on.     If  this  be  true,  it  shows  that  England  knows  England's 
and  admits  that  her  supply  of  gold  is  insufficient  for  her 
purposes.     She  demonetizes  silver  for  reason,  to  wit,  be-  England's 
cause  she  has  no  silver  mines  and  is  the  creditor  nation 
of  the  world,  and  monetizes  mere  paper  to  supply  her  own 
wants.     Those  writers  state  that  the   Bank  of   England 
notes  are  "  legal  tender."    If  so,  they  are  money  ;  for  Eng-  Bank  of 
land  has  no  written  constitution  to  restrain  the  legislation  notes8" 
of  her  Parliament,  and  what  that  Parliament  says  is  its 
money,  is  its  money. 

And,  if  such  is  the  case,  what  becomes  of  the  assertion 
of  the  "  gold  standard  "  writers  that  money  must  be  made  No  intrinsic 
of  material  that  has  intrinsic  value,  and  that  money  can- 
not be  made  of  a  material  that  has  no  intrinsic  value  ?  For 
surely  little  slips  of  printed  paper  do  not  per  se,  in  them- 
selves, have  any  intrinsic  value  !  The  actual  paper  used 
in  a  Bank  of  England  note  of  any  denomination  is  too 


346  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

small  to  be  expressed  in  any  coin  of  any  nation  on  earth. 
The  value  of  the  mere  paper  in  such  a  note  is  simply 
nothing.  No  man  would  make  a  charge  for  that  amount 
of  paper.  And  even  if  the  paper  in  such  a  note  should,  by 
reason  of  its  peculiar  manufacture  to  prevent  counterfeit- 
ing, or  for  beauty  or  anything  else,  cost  something,  it 
would  not  in  any  respect  affect  the  argument  here  made. 
In  any  possible  event  the  amount  is  too  small  to  cut  any 
figure.  Only  insanity  could  claim  that  the  value  of  the 
mere  paper  in  a  Bank  of  England  "  legal  tender  "  note,  or 
that  in  the  American  ll  legal  tender "  greenback,  was 
of  sufficient  value  to  cut  any  figure  in  making  up  the 
value  of  the  note.  No,  its  value  comes  from  a  totally  dif- 
ferent source.  If  it  is  money,  tender,  then  its  whole  value 
comes  from  its  being  money,  tender ;  and  if  it  is  mere 
promise  to  pay  and  not  pay,  then  its  whole  value  comes 
from  its  being  redeemable  in  money,  the  tender,  the  real 
pay. 
Money  made     Of  course,  paper  in  large  quantities  has  value  placed 

of  a  value-  .      .  .        .  .  .      ,  .  _, 

less  thing,  upon  it  in  trade,  but  not  a  piece  of  that  size.  Conse- 
quently, here  is  a  clear  case  admitted  by  "  gold  standard  " 
writers  in  which  money  is  made  of  a  valueless  article. 
For  valueless  is  what  they  mean  by  an  article  not  having 
intrinsic  value.  It  is  easily  seen  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  intrinsic  value.  An  article  or  commodity  has 
useful  qualities,  and  on  that  article  by  reason  of  those 
qualities  a  person  sets  value,  and  that  value  is  measured 
generally  in  money,  but  often  in  other  articles  or  com- 
modities. The  degree  of  estimation  of  the  article  is  the 
value  measured,  as  before  stated,  in  money  or  commodity, 
as  the  case  may  be. 

The  question  now  arises,  why  should  England  legislate 
the  money  function  out  of  silver  and  legislate  it  into 
paper  ?    The  answer  is,  because  she  is  the  creditor  nation 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    347 

of  the  world,  and  she  wants  the  thing  in  which  she  re- 
ceives her  pay  to  be  dear.  This  increases  her  power  over 
the  nations.  The  same  motive,  it  has  been  seen,  actuated 
Germany  in  her  demonetization  of  silver  in  1871,  to  in- 
crease the  value  of  her  six  or  seven  hundred  millions  of 
gold  dollars. 

But  England  saw  that  her  o-old  coin  was  not  sufficient  England's 

0  CT  policy. 

for  her  purposes ;  she  therefore  monetized  paper.  Ger- 
many will  have  to  do  something  similar,  or  remonetize 
silver. 

But  America,  throusrh  the  enactments  of  her  Congress,  America's 

&  .  .  policy. 

fatuously  follows  England,  although  she,  America,  is  a 
great  debtor  nation,  and  also  has  very  large  productions 
of  silver! 


I 


tit  ion. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Gold  for  Shipment  to  Foreign  Countries. 

n  a  work  like  this,  where  the  design  is  to  answer  all 
the  absurdities  (a  severe  word,  absurdity,  is  used 
here  as  in  many  other  places  in  this  work,  because  not 
merely  severe,  but  even  harsh  and  bitter  words  and  epi- 
thets were  in  all  the  controversy  constantly  employed  by 
the  Gold  Solomons  against  the  Silver  Lunatics, —  in- 
deed, the  "  silver  men "  were  not  argued  but  ridiculed 
into  defeat),  yes,  answer  all  the  absurdities  of  Gold  Sol- 
some  repe-  monic  literature  and  speaking,  it  is  inevitable  that  some 
repetition  should  be  made.  For  it  frequently  happens  that 
the  same  argument  that  crushes  one  false  view  of  a  subject 
will  crush  another  false  view  also,  and  when  that  is  the 
case,  it  is  believed  that  Gold  Solomonic  candor  could  not 
be  trusted  to  make  the  application  to  the  second  fallacy  of 
the  argument  that  destroyed  the  first  fallacy.  On  the 
contrary,  the  history  of  the  conflict  would  rather  lead 
to  the  conclusion  that  should  such  a  second  fallacy  be  left 
for  such  application,  that  the  Gold  Solomons  would  say, 
"  Well,  perhaps  this  point,  naming  it,  was  indeed  an- 
swered, but  this  second  one  was  not ;  that  point  was  too 
strong ;  that  was  unanswerable  ;  they  did  not  dare  to  touch 
that!"  This  consideration  must  be  the  justification  and 
apologv  for  the  repetitions  heretofore  made  in  this  work, 
and  also  this  further  one  that  is  to  follow,  to  wit :  — 

"  With  other  things  than  gold  coin  as  money  in  this 
country,  how  could  we  get  gold  coin  to  ship  to  foreign 

348 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    349 

countries  to  pay  our  debts  there,  where  nothing  but  gold 
coin  will  pay  debts?" 

This  argument  has  been  constantly  hurled  at  the  author 
as  one  that  it  was  impossible  to  answer,  that  has  been 
generally   considered   as   the    Gold    Solomons'    Gibraltar.  The  ooi<i 

-Tt  1  ,  1  1,  1       1  Solomon's 

No  one  even  dared  to  make  assault  upon  it,  much  less  Gibraltar. 

have    hope    of    carrying    it.      Who    does    not    remember 

the  leader  of  the  Gold  Solomon  forces,  after  his  desertion  After  his 

...  r  .  u  -itt  1         desertion. 

to  them  from  the   silver   forces,   saying.       We  want   the 
money  of  the  United  States  to  be  as  good  as  the  money  of  As  Kood 

1  money    as 

any  country  in  the  world,  that  when  we  take  our  money  any  in  the 
to  England,    France  or   Germany   it  will  pay  our   debts 
there"?     Before  comment  on  the  position,  permit  a  re-  character 

•ii-  of  the 

mark  on  that  character  too  common  m  the  history  of  the  deserter. 
world,  known  and  despised  as  a  deserter  when  considered 
in  reference  to  his  former  principles,  although  received 
and  welcomed,  but  perhaps  in  heart  also  despised,  by  his 
new  associates.  It  is  believed  that  such  characters  will 
well  bear  watching.  They  may,  of  course,  be  sincere,  but 
their  situation  is  dubious.  There  is  a  further  belief  in 
reference  to  them  that  may  generally  be  safely  entertained, 
to  wit,  that  when  such  characters  accept  office,  nomina- 
tion, place,  power  or  emoluments  from  their  new  allies, 
soon  after  the  desertion,  that  this  was  the  moving  cause  Motive  for 
for  the  change  rather  than  sincere  conviction  of  error.  So 
that  a  man  of  proper  feeling  and  refined  and  gentlemanly  proper  feei- 
conduct  and  due  regard  for  the  opinion  of  the  more 
worthy  of  mankind,  would  be  slow  and  reluctant  to  accept 
office,  nomination,  place,  power  or  emolument  at  too  early 
a  date  after  entrance  into  his  new  camp.  Such  a  man 
would  say :  "  No ;  let  me  serve  in  the  ranks  of  the  private 
and  the  obscure.  My  reputation  is  worth  more  to  me  and 
my  family  and  friends  than  these  things  that  you  offer.  Reputation. 
Principle  guided  my  entrance  among  you,  and  principle 
must  guide  my  conduct  after  my  arrival." 


350  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

The  ques-  But  in  answer  to  the  question  as  to  money  for  foreign 

countries,  let  another  question  be  asked,  that  is  legitimate 
argument  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States.     The  ques- 
tion was,  "  With  other  things  than  gold  coin  as  money  in 
this  country,  how  could  we  get  gold  coin  to  ship  to  for- 
eign countries  to  pay  our  debts  there,  where  nothing  but 
The   answer; gold  coin  will  pay  debts ?  "     Answer:  Can  you  pay  your 
modities         debts  in  any  foreign  country  now  with  your  United  States 
asOUweii'\is     gold  coin,  unless  your  foreign  creditor  is  willing  to  take 
it?    No,  you  cannot.     You  would  have  to  buy  the  coin  of 
the  country  in  which  the  payment  was  to  be  made..    All  the 
gold  coin  in  the  United  States  would  not  pay  a  debt  in 
England  or  France  or  Germany  unless  the  creditor  was 
willing  to  take  them  in  settlement  of  his  debt.     Then  if 
you  had  to  buy  the  foreign  gold  coin,  you  must  buy  that 
gold  coin  with  something  that  you  have  to  sell  to  some 
one,  just  the  same  as  you  would  have  to  do  if  you  bought 
anything  else  in  a  foreign  country.     Therefore,  with  the 
merchant  trading  from  the  United  States  to  England,  the 
cargo  huys    case  would  be  this :  he  would  sell  his  cargo  of  wheat,  beef, 

coins. 

bacon,  cotton  or  other  commodity,  and  therewith  buy  Eng- 
lish coin  wherewith  he  could  pay  his  English  debts.  The 
same  in  France,  Germany  or  other  country.  It  would  not 
make  a  particle  of  difference  whether  or  not  there  was 
gold  coin  in  the  United  States,  the  commodities  of  this 
country  could  buy  the  gold  coin  of  the  other  country.  So 
an  English  trader  coming  here  need  not  bring  English 
coin  with  him  to  pay  the  debts  to  our  people  which  he 
might  contract.  If  he  did,  they  would  not  do  it,  unless 
the  creditor  were  willing.  He  would  simply  sell  to  some 
one  here  his  English  cargo,  get  the  price  in  our  money 
(silver,  gold  or  whatever  it  might  be)  and  therewith  pay 
his  debt  to  the  American  merchant. 

If  in  the  trade  between  two  countries  one  has  to  buv  all 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    351 
the  time  and  sell  at  no  time,  the  trade  will  soon  stop,    The  Cannot  be 

all    buying 

buvine  country  will  soon  have  nothing  to  hnv  with,  and  and  no 

.       o  .         "  selling. 

it  will  seek  a  country  to  trade  with  to  which  it  could  sell 
as  well  as  from  which  it  could  buy.  So  much  for  the 
trading  hetween  two  countries. 

Now  for  the  travelers  and  pleasure  seekers.  As  the  Travelers. 
author  has  been  frequently  informed,  "they  might  not 
have  anything  to  sell  and  what  would  they  do  without 
the  gold  coin?"  Well,  if  they  had  nothing  to  sell  either 
at  home  or  elsewhere,  the)-  would  probably  not  be  travel- 
ing, except  in  the  way  of  "  bumming  "  and  "  dead  head- 
ing." How  could  they?  If  they  had  something  to  sell  at 
home,  whether  that  something  was  commodity  or  the 
home  money,  they  could  sell  it  and  buy  the  gold  coin  of 
the  foreign  country  from  either  the  broker  at  the  home 
port  before  starting  or  from  the  broker  at  the  foreign  port 
on  landing.     No  difficulty  would  be  met;  all  would  be  with  some- 

1       T      1  1  1      tiling      t<>      Se" 

well,  provided  he  had  something  to  sell.  And  if  he  had  no  difficulty. 
nothing  to  sell,  the  role  of  the  foreign  traveler,  tourist 
or  pleasure  seeker  would  not  be  very  pleasing  to  him  ;  and 
if  he  attempted  to  play  such  a  part  as  this,  thus  only 
equipped,  his  failure  would  not  produce  very  deep  sym- 
pathy. 

Clearly  neither  the  trader  nor  the  traveler  in  foreign 
countries  would  be  at  all  affected  by  the  matter.  Things 
then  would  be  practically  just  as  they  are  now.    A  country  Then  as 

.  now. 

that  has  nothing  to  sell,  like  a  man  in  the  same  situation, 
cannot  buy.  Of  course,  one  can  sell  commodities,  labor 
or  services,  or  money  to  buy  the  same  things,  in  either 
his  home  country  or  in  foreign  countries. 

Of  course,  a  uniformity  in  money,  not  only  as  to  the  Uniformity 

.in    coins. 

material  of  which  it  is  made,  but  also  as  to  the  denomina- 
tion and  names  of  the  coins,  might  be  a  very  great  con- 
venience to  international  traders  and  travelers,  just  as  a 


352 


Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 


Uniformity 
in  weights 
and  meas- 
ures. 


Bad 
example. 


uniformity  in  the  weights  and  measures  and  the  names 
of  those  weights  and  measures  might  be  to  them  ;  but  those 
matters  are  for  the  different  nations  of  the  world  to  fix 
each  for  itself.  One  sovereign  nation  has  no  power  over 
another  sovereign  nation  in  those  matters.  And  why 
should  America  follow  the  bad  policy  or  bad  example  of 
any  other  nation?  Should  we  Americans  be  thus  servile? 
No;  we  are  a  sovereign  people,  and  not  a  small  or  insig- 
nificant one.  and  we  should  act  in  a  manner  that  is  suitable 
to  our  character. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Conclusion. 

This  work,  written  in  great  haste  and  with  many 
embarrassments  in  an  unexpected  three  months' 
freedom  from  official  duty,  the  author  is  well 
aware,  shows  the  signs  of  that  haste.  But  that  it  pre- 
sents the  truth  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  albeit 
imperfectly,  he  firmly  believes.  Should  it  aid  in  clearing 
up  a  subject  that  some  of  the  best  writers,  Adam  Smith 
and  Professor  Price  among  them,  admit  is  dark,  deep  and 
difficult,  he  would  feel  amply  compensated.  If  it  should 
prove  even  in  some  small  degree  instrumental  in  restoring  Restoring 
silver  to  its  legitimate  money  function,  and  at  the  same 
time  cause  that  immortal  document  of  the  wise  forefath- 
ers, the  United  States  Constitution,  to  be  observed  and  The  consti- 
respected,  then  indeed  would  he  rejoice  that  he  had  the 
courage  to  enter  upon  the  undertaking.  For  in  the  res- 
toration of  silver  he  believes  that  the  interests  of  the  whole 
people  of  the  United  States  would  be  largely  promoted, 
and  his  patriotism  and  love  of  that  people  would  impel 
him  to  that.  Especially  the  interests  of  his  own  beloved 
State,  Nevada,  would  be  greatly  promoted,  and  in  this 
promotion  he  would  find  an  inspiration  for  the  most  labo- 
rious efforts,  because  he  has  lived  a  quarter  of  a  century 
among  the  people  of  it,  and  all  of  that  time  they  have  ever 
been  kind  and  generous  to  him ;  and  in  the  restoration  to 
the  control  and  guidance  of  the  principles  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Convention  of  1787  over  the  American  people,  he 
recognizes  their  only  safety.  In  some  quarters  the  fashion 
23  353 


354  Thirty  Years'  War  on  Silver 

"Written       now  is  to  ridicule  and  despise  a  "written  constitution." 

Constitu-  _,      .   .  . 

tion."  bad  indeed  will  be  the  day  in  America  when  men  of  that 

way  of  thinking  become  dominant  in  the  land ;  with  it 

Liberty  and  liberty  will  pass  awav  from  the  people,  and  tyranny  will 

tyranny.  -  J  ' 

enslave  them.     When  men  become  so  good,  true,  honest, 

faithful  and  fair  in  the  dealings  of  man  with  man  in  the 

contracts       private  concerns  of  life  that  written  contracts  among  them 

among     men. 

are  unnecessary,  then,  and  not  till  then,  will     written  con- 
constitu-       stitutions  "   of   government  become   unnecessary   for  the 

tion   in   gov-  .  .  _,..., 

emment.  nations.  Had  there  been  no  written  Constitution  in  the 
sad  day.  I  nited  States,  its  liberties  would  have  passed  away  long 
ago ;  and  should  the  day  ever  come  when  a  written  Con- 
stitution in  it  is  abolished,  that  day  will  witness  the 
downfall  of  her  liberties  and  enthronement  of  tyranny 
over  her  people. 

Therefore  let  him  who,  in  the  Congress  or  on  any  bench 
of  justice  in  the  land,  interprets  out  of  the  Constitution 
anything  that  is  really  there,  that  in  the  intention  of  the 
framers  is  there,  or  who  interprets  into  it  something  that 
in  reality  is  not  there,  or  that  the  framers  did  not  intend 
to  be  there,  know  that  he  cannot  do  so  and  politically  live ; 
that  such  an  act  shows  him  unworthy  of  the  high  trust 
placed  in  his  keeping.  In  the  language  of  Scripture,  used 
here  only  in  a  political  sense,  "  Let  his  days  be  few ;  and 
let  another  take  his  office."     Psalm  109:8. 

But  when  the  days  again  come  when  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  is  observed  and  obeyed  in  the  letter 
Days  of  and  in  the  spirit,  there  will  be  then  days  of  gladness.  Then 
will  prosperity  smile  in  the  valleys  and  upon  the  hills  and 
upon  the  mountains.  Let  the  people  honor  the  principles 
and  obey  the  precepts  of  their  fathers,  that  their  days  may 
be  long  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  their  God  hath 
given  unto  them.  Honored  be  the  men  and  women  who 
shall  aid  and  guide  them  to  the  observance  of  the  prin- 


gladness. 


Supplementary  and  Corroborative  Views    355 

ciples  and  obedience  to  the  precepts  of  the  Fathers  as  they 
are  expressed  in  their  — 

Constitution  of  Government. 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother :  that  thy  days  may 
be  long  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given 
thee."    Exodus  20: 12. 

This  is  the  fifth,  and  it  is  a  great  commandment. 


INDEX. 


Ablest    man 30S 

Abolished    by    interpretation 325 

Abolishes    State   governments.  ...  164 
Abraham    and    Homer,    from,    to 

industrial    conspiracy 337 

Absolute  necessity  for  tender....    88 

Act,  an,  in  the  dark 329 

Action  of  debt 320 

Admission,   fatal 208,  330 

Admission,   "  Flood   country   with 

mi  mey  "    278 

Admitting   case   away 323 

Ages   upon   ages 291 

Agitation,  at  each,  head  given... 294 

A  is  A  and  not  A 17".  '91 

All    buying    and    no    selling,    can- 
not   "be 35 r 

Almighty   dollar 92 

Almighty   wheat 9- 

Amendments    to    Federal    Consti- 
tution, power  to  make 158 

Amendments    to    State    Constitu- 
tion, power  to  make 159 

Amendment,    tenth.." 1 57 

"Amend-;,    tender    of  " 65 

American  form  of  government.  .  .269 
American    government,  four  grand 

divisions    of 156 

America's  policy 347 

Anarchist,   the '95 

Ancestral    boasting 1  S3 

Answer,    first -^33l 

Answer     of     the     "  presidential  " 

nominees    309 

Answer,    second 331 

Apparent  measure  of  value 

86,   1  18,  204,  216 

Arbitrary  power  enthroned 1S8 

Argument,  same  in  general  as  in 

borrowing   clause 213 

Argumentum   ad  simplicem 318 

Aristocracy    145 

Assumption,   remarkable.  ...  165,   208 

Assumption,    unwarranted 197 

Astute,    too 323 

Attorneys,    failure    of   to    present 

case    196 

Attributes  of  money 34,   56,  65 

Attributes    of    sovereignty,    four- 
fold  division   of 136 

Bad,   the,   like  good   names 300 

Bank  checks,   notes,   drafts,  bills. 272 
Bankers  dictating  banking  laws.  .    73 

Banking,  safe  or  unsafe 87,  295 

Bank  of   England  notes  money.  .345 


PAGE 

Bank   of   England   notes  tender.  .345 

Banks,   interest  of 286 

Hanks,     interest     of,     antagonistic 

to   the  public   interest 286 

Banks  should  furnish  circulation  284 

Barter 38,    99,    129 

Basis,   apparent;   basis,   true 118 

Basis  of  money  narrowed 222 

Battle  of  truth  and  error 234 

Battle,   threefold,   why? 322 

Battles    lost 321 

Beast   of    Revelation 191 

Bills    of    credit 189 

Bird's-eye   view .   , 

Bishops J  1  4,    221 

Blaine,    Tames  G 248 

"Blue,   the,    and    the   Gray  "....209 

Blunders,   two  great 128 

Boeotia   83 

Borrowing    clause 213 

Boxer,   the   unskillful 209 

Breezy  definition  of  money 85 

Brief    of    counsel 196 

Broad  sense 85 

Brussels  conference,    1892 .311 

"Builded  better  than  they  knew"  217 

Bull,   symbol 150 

Burden,    whole   thrown   on   silver 

owners    267 

Business,  lottery,  basis  of 126 

Cable    tow 293 

Calamities     282 

Calf,    golden 216 

California    214 

Campaign    text-hooks 229 

Can    stand    much 3'° 

Carlisle.     Mr 308 

Cargo    buys 35° 

Cart-rope  tender 230,    293 

Case,    supposititious 242 

Cash    sales 99 

Certificates,   congressional   head.. 294 

Certificates,    gold    head 293 

Certificates,    treasury    head 294 

Challenge  of  "presidential"  nom- 
inee  3n° 

Change,  motive  of 349 

Change,     no     moral     right     to.     if 

power    exists 273 

Change,    the    lawful     and    proper 

way    to 33° 

Change,   pro   bono   publico 275 

Change,   when    whole   people   can- 
not  without   moral    wrong.... 273 

357 


358 


Index 


PAGE 

Changing   in    value 98 

Character   of  men   of    1787 156 

Characteristics  of  money 56 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  his  admission. 281 

Cheat,    a 283 

Cheat,    a   meaner 283 

Check  received 332 

Check   refused 332 

Child,   little no 

Chimeras    85 

Choice,   same  then   as   now 272 

Circle   is  circular! 131 

Citizen    61 

Civil   war,  costs  of  increased.  ..  .203 

Classes 74,    202,    226 

Clauses,  the  two  that  fix  money. 235 

Climax    75 

Cloak   room 300 

Coin,    current 192 

Coin,   foreign 236,  254 

Coin,   paper 237 

Coin,   put   in   circulation   by   gov- 
ernment     274 

Coin,    put    in    circulation    by    pri- 
vate  owners 274 

Coin,   struck  by   Congress 251 

Coin,  to,  meaning  of.... 214   et  seq. 

Coin,   uncurrent 194 

Coining  power  in  Congress 235 

Coining,    when    should    cease....  275 

Colors,  no  false 306 

"  Colorado,     why     did     take     to 

woods?"    342 

Committee   of   detail 1 79 

Committee  of  style 180 

Commodities,    pay    then    just    as 

they  do  now 350 

Commodity    as    common    measure 

of  value 90 

Common   denominator  of   value.  .    34 
Common  measure  of  value.  .  .  .66,  78 

Comprehension    292 

Compromise     299 

Concept,     erroneous,     of     money, 

yielded    302 

Conclusion,  lame  and   impotent.  .  159 

Confession   of   silver   men 232 

Confusion     205 

Congress     has     no     power     over 

tender    249 

Congress   has   power   to   coin    and 

regulate  only 249 

Congress,  special   session   of 311 

Congress,    the    instrumert 252 

Congressional   certificate  head. ...294 
Congressional    will    supreme    law 

of  the  land 187 

Congressional  money 188 

Conscience    157 

Conspiracy  of  greed 344 

Conspiracv  to  enslave  the  world.  116 
Constitutionality  _    of      greenback 

monetization    yielded 280,    281 

Constitution    adequate    for   war..  198 
Constitution  as  it  is,  not  as  it  is 

wanted    300 

Constitution    binding 173 


PAGE 

Constitution,    copy    of    in    Wash- 
ington    museum 325 

Constitution,     clauses     of     con- 
cerning   money 174 

Constitution,  need  of 353 

Constitution,   obey 254,   342 

Constitution    "played    out" 165 

Constitution   struck   down 163 

Constitution,   written 354 

Constitutional    provisions.  .  .  174,   265 

Construed    strictly 194 

Contracts    abolished 89 

Contracts  among  men,  need  of.  .354 

Contracts,  law  of,  abolished 89 

Contradiction    in    terms 197 

Contention,     first,     limitation     on 

power  of   States 176 

Contention,      second,      borrowing 

clause    183 

Contention,    third,    coining 214 

Convention  of   1787 145,    179 

Copper   tender 181 

Corporate  bodies,  acts  of 328 

Counterfeiting,    punishment    of.. 

192,    217 

Courts,   functions  of 242 

Cowardly   and   unjust 278 

Credit,    insufficient 112 

Creditor    endowed    with    attribute 

of   sovereignty 230 

Credit    sales 98 

Crime    107 

Crisis   of    1893,   cause   of 310 

Crushing!    228 

Cry,  silly 279 

Cubic  yard  of  gold 62 

Currency    3  5 

Currency,    inflating 290 

Currency,  not  money .306 

Currency,   present,   law   conceived 

in   illegality ; 2S1 

Currency,    present    law,    its   advo- 
cates constantly  tinkering  at   it.  281 
Currency,    present    law,    unscien- 
tific,    unconstitutional,     unjust 

and    clumsy 281 

Currency,    regulating 281 

Dagon    216 

Damage     63 

Danger,    no 254 

Dan  c;er,   the   new 210 

Daughters    of   toil 245 

Day,    sad 354 

Death,    political 250 

Death,    temporary _ 321 

Debasement,    no,    but    righting    a 

wrong     291 

Debasing  money,  two  ways  of... 282 

Debt,   meaning   of 58 

Debtor   class   legislated   into   slav- 
ery     230 

Deception 226,    329 

Declaration   of   Independence.  ...  187 
Declare  tender,  corporations  have 

power  to 184 

Declare      tender,      persons      have 
power    to 184 


Index 


359 


PAGE 

Declare   tender,    State   has   power 

to    . 184 

Defects    of    definitions 84 

Defendant     endowed     with     attri- 
bute   of    sovereignty 97 

Definition    of    definition 51 

Definition,   true,   of  money 22$ 

l)eity,  impeachment  of 126 

I  )emand    110 

I  lemocracy    145 

Democratic    convention,    indirect, 

or    representative 156 

Democratic    party    rids    itself    of 

gold   leaders 301 

Democratic  president  in   1884.... 301 

Demonetized   money ! 224 

Depression,   long  period  of 310 

Deserter,    character   of 349 

Deserter's  slogan,  as  good  money 

as  any  in  the  world 349 

Destruction,    preservative 200 

Devas,    Charles,    his   definition   of 

money    35 

Devotees    never    surrender 321 

Diamonds    m 

Dictionary,  the  Standard 182 

Dictum,   weighty 249 

Difference,      increasing,      between 
real    and    apparent    measure    of 

value     294 

Difficulty,    no,    with   something   to 

sell    351 

Digest  of   plan 180 

Dilemma    136 

Direct  exchange 129 

Director    of   mint 227,   3°6 

1  Mscharger    of    obligations 58 

I  lishonest    declaring 258 

Disparity   and   scarcity 340 

Disparity     produced     by     demon- 
etization     342 

Disturbance,    temporary 338 

Dividing   South 308 

Divine    right 73,    74 

Divorce  law,  power  to  make 158 

Doctrine  hedged  about 157 

"  Dog,    face   of  " 261 

Dollar-piece   of   gold 195 

Dollar,    silver,    not   money.. 227,    228 

1  luad,  the 57 

Duty,    great    and    solemn 167 

Duty  of  sovereign 61,   246 

Effective   and   glaring 130 

Effect   on  silver 302 

Elasticity    284 

Elasticity,   uses  of 285 

Emancipation   proclamation 168 

Enactments,  not  laws 109 

Encyclopedia   Britannica,   its   def- 
inition of  money 31 

"  Endless   chain  " 260 

England's  admission 345 

England's    demonetization   of    sil- 
ver in   18 1 6 304 

England's    policy 347 

England's     reason 345 

English   form  of  government ....  _■«><  j 


PAGE 

Englishman,    sagacious 270 

Ensla\  ement   of   world 1  j  i> 

Epithets,    opprobrius 327 

Error,    historical 287 

Errors,    economic 287 

Error,     strange jjij 

Eternal     vigilance 14.S 

Etymology    [50 

Europe    55 

Evidence     of     debt     and      tender 

contradictory    196,    197 

Example,  a  dreadful 328 

Example,    bad 352 

Excuse,  no 199 

Executive     161 

Executive    certificate     head 291 

Expert,    mathematical 96 

Extension    292 

Eair    play,    not 270 

Faith,   lost 321 

Fall   of   65   per   cent 2.13 

Famine,     money 266 

Famine,    wheat 205 

"  Fatuous,     so  " 314 

Fear,    imaginary 272 

Federal  officers,  titles  of 162 

Feeling,     proper 349 

Feudal     tenure 254 

Fiat    money 76,    127 

Fiat   money,   none  but 275 

Fifty    cents    silver    legislated    into 

hundred-cent    dollar 244 

Financiers,    shrewd 245 

First     grand     divisions     of     sov- 
ereign   powers 156,    158 

First   point,    false  or   meaningless  51 

Five  per   cent    interest 60 

"  Flag,  haul   down  " 163 

"  Flooding  country  with  money  "  278 

Folly    160 

Fools,  95  per  cent  of  people. ...  126 

Force  of  maxim  in  general 241 

Foreigner    61 

Forced  loan,  the  greenback 206 

Form  of  government,  better 199 

Form     of     government      of     the 

United   States 156 

Four   grand   divisions   of   govern- 
ment     156 

Fractional   silver   coin.. 59,   224.    293 

Fraction,   definition   of 67 

Framers  of   Constitution 247 

Fraud,    legal 227 

"  Free    coinage  " 253 

Fundamental     forms     of     govern- 
ment     145 

George,    Henry 84,    341 

Generalization,    broader 341 

Gage,  Lyman  J.,  his  definition  of 

money    36 

Germany's   demonetization   of   sil- 
ver in   1 87 1 304 

Goose    hawks    high 121 

Government,    three    fundamental 

forms  of 145 

Government,    four   divisions  of..  156 
Golden    calf 216 


360 


Index 


Grant  and  Lee 303 

Gray,  Justice 183 

Gray,  the,   and  the   Blue 209 

Great  men,  errors  of 195 

Great    men,   no    intellectual    heirs 

of   148 

Greenbacks 60,    334 

Greenbacks,    factories   of 194 

Greenbacks,     counterfeiting,     not 

punishable     192 

Greenbacks  during  the  Civil  War  202 

Greenback     head 294 

Greenbacks,  if  not  needed  as  ten- 
der,   hurt    silver 269 

Greenbacks    replaced    with    silver 

coin     255 

Growth   of   a   century 284 

Guilt     205 

Gulliver,    Lemuel 116 

"  Hard  times  "  for  two  years.  . .  .291 

Harm,    little,   if   any 335 

Harm,     no 388 

Harrison's    election     would     have 
consolidated    the    democracy.  .  .307 

"  Hayrack  " 45,   83 

Heads,    adding. .293 

"  Heart    of   stag  " 261 

History    300 

Honest  and  fair  treatment  for  all  306 

Honest    borrowing 258 

House   of   Representatives 160 

How,   the 332 

Humanity,     teaches 336 

"  Hung    jury  " .    93 

"Idiot  get  through,  when  will?  "  300 

Ignorance,    wall    of 82 

Ignorance,    trap    for 23 1 

Ignoratio   elenchi 138 

Iliad   of  woes 248 

Illegal  "  legal  tender  " 131 

Illustrations 50,    51,    59,   60, 

...61,  68,  84,  86,  91,  92,  224,  318 

Impeachment  of  Deity 126 

Incidents 45.   ?8,   201 

"  Incident    as   closed  " 67 

Income    tax    case 241 

Inconsistency     ■  •  •  206 

Inconsistency,   charge   of,   against 

silver   men 232 

Increasing   length    of    yardstick.  .  108 

Indemnity,    the    French 344 

Inducement,    mere 242 

Inflation   of   currency 290 

Injustice,  gross 106 

Instances  of  powers  not  granted.  158 
Instances    of   powers    reserved ...  159 

"  Instrumentalities  " 285,    28S 

Instruments,   silly,  of  the  unholy 

war    267 

Interest    rates 284 

Interest    rates,    the    Congress   has 

no   power   over 285 

Interpretation 1 57.    204 

Interpretation,    no    contemporane- 
ous     242 

Interpretation,    rule  of 175 

Interpretation,  unique 176 


PAGE 

Interpreting    in    and    interpreting 

out    300 

Invention,  not  of  author 70 

Issue,  old  and  new,  evils  of 278 

Island,    Crusoe 272 

Jane     100 

Jefferson,   his  denial 247 

Jefferson,  made  no  argument.  ..  .247 

Jefferson,    Thomas 247 

Jewess    74 

Judicial  will  supreme  law 187 

Jury,     congressional. 178 

Jury,    estimating 96 

Jury,    selecting    money 93 

Kakistocracy     147 

Kinds  of  money,  how  many?.  .  .  .289 

Kings,  gold  and  silver 267 

"  Knight,  plumed  " 250 

Labor    254 

Labor  stored  in  lands  and  homes  262 

Labor  stored  in  money 263,  327 

Labor    stored    in    personal    prop- 
erty     263 

Ladies    272 

Lady,    pious    Southern 315 

Landcleave     124 

Language,   contradictory 63 

Language,    changed 185 

Language,    similar,    compared.  ..  .213 

Language    reversed 185 

Language    vague 285 

Large    transaction,    silver    can    be 

used   in 338 

Laughlin,  Professor.  .45,  66,  82,  229 

Law". 52,    100 

Law,   controls   entirely 275 

Law,    deeper 341 

Law,   source  of  power 244 

Law,  The  Gresham 340 

7.<i» s   Deo 321 

Lawyers,    heartless 122 

Leaders,  great,   condemned 309 

Lee    3°3 

Legal   tender 35,    132 

Legal  tender,  full,  of  six  hundred 

millions   silver   dollars   yielded. 302 
Legal    tender,    full,    of    fifty    mil- 
lions   fractional    silver    dollars 

yielded    3°2 

Legislated    value 277 

Legislating  value  into  a  thing...  138 
Legislative    power,    the    threefold 

division    of 160 

Legislature,  State  and  National.  .328 

Lesson,    much-needed 193 

Liberty  and  tyranny 354 

Liberty,    guard 269 

"  Life*  of  nation"    fallacy.  .  198,    208 

Life-preserving     power 198 

Light,    in    the" 301 

Like  measures  like 103,   104 

Lincoln,    Abraham 166,    209 

Logical    confusion 130 

Looking    ahead 307 

Louisiana  Territory,  purchase  of.  168 

Love,   the   new 328 

Lumping   of    powers 184 


Index 


361 


PAGE 

Madison's    journal,    extract    from 

188-192 

Mahomet    102 

Maize    338 

Makes  the  Congress  abdicate.  ..  .286 

Mandamus  not  the  remedy 318 

Mandamus,  must  show  law  for.. 319 
Mandate  of  people  to  Congress.  .319 

Man,    the   wise 210 

March     in    gold    processions    be- 
fore, and  out  of  premises  after 

election    292 

Mask,  throwing  off 3°8 

Mass,   common,   of  men 244 

Mathematical    absurdity 71 

Matter,  the  whole 334 

Measure    and    measured    must    be 

of   same    kind 67 

Measure  of  value..  56,  98,  121,  262 
Measure  of  value,  the  general..  120 
Medal,  a  commemorative  money. 331 

Medicine    100 

Medium  in  payment  of  debts.  .  .  .250 
Medium  of  exchange. 33,  40,  56,   127 

Megalopolis 116,   125,  324 

Men  in  manufacturing  States.. 270 
Men  in  silver-producing  States.. 270 
Mercenaries     may     surrender.  ..  .321 

Mercenaries,    their    pay 3-'i 

Mere   incidents b2 

Metaphorical    use 136 

Micropolis 116,    324 

Millionaire     229 

Military    service 199 

Minimum     -41 

Misnomer    161 

Misstatement,    appalling 233 

Mockery,   exulting 268 

Monarchy    M5 

Money 34.   35.    56,    101,   223,   236 

Money,  accepted  definition  of...  49 
Money,  borrowed,  times  good..  .317 
Money,     constitutional     provision 

regarding    '74 

Money,  creation  of  law 279 

Money,  fiat,  none  but 275 

Money,    interchangeable 285 

Money     material,     physical     qual- 
ities of J39 

Money,  metallic,  all  struck  out.. 264 

Money,   never   too   much 267 

Monev  paid,  times  bad 3'7 

Money,  fixed  in  the  Constitution .  176 
Money,    more     needed,     right    to 

supply    it 265 

Money,  no  such  thing  as 9° 

Money,  one-half  stricken  out.... 222 

Money,    scientific -338 

Money,      suitable      in      kind      and 

adequate    in    amount 255 

Money,   true  definitions  of 56 

Money,    the    real,    substitutes    the 
apparent,    measure    of    value... 245 

Monster,   seven-headed 293 

Monument,   the 141 

Moral  quality   of  the  action 264 

Moral   sense 107 


PAGE 

"Mi  it  ion,   perpetual  " 279 

Motive,    bad 206 

Motive,     good 206 

Murder,    moral 342 

Murderer's  obliterated   tracks.  ..  .316 
Mutual  checks  and  balances,  gold 

and    silver    are 338 

Nagrom 117,    122,    290 

Names,  bad,  deter 301 

Names,   good,    stimulate 301 

National   bank  notes 62 

National  bank  note  head 294 

Nations  dependent  on  each  other  336 

"  Nebula  "     125 

Nevada 154,    268 

Nevada,     statute     of      1899     and 

1901    182 

Nevada,  why  take  to  the  woods.  .342 

Nickelplate  "head,    little 294 

Nine  to  two   (9  to  2) 191 

Ninety-five   per   cent 126 

No,    a    thousand    times    no 326 

Nobility,   laws   made   by 74 

A'on    scquitur 183 

Not   a   step,   etc 52 

Not     true 343 

Oath   of   office ...198,   300 

Obedience   due    from   citizen   and 

resident     263 

Obey  Constitution,  and  no  fear.. 342 

Offense,   criminal 289 

Old   money,   new    money 264 

Oligarchy 148 

One  divided  by  zero  equals  infin- 
ity  (i-e-o=  co) 72 

One  equals  two   (1=2)! 7  5 

One  half,  moral  quality  the  same  264 
One  price,  not  a  silver  price  and 

a   gold    price 335 

Only  one  source  of  power 157 

Opinion,   world's 304 

Original  thirteen  States 154 

"  Orphan,   the   poor  " 291 

"Or,"   the   disjunctive,    used....  181 
"  Or,"    the    disjunctive,    rejected, 
and   "and,"  the  conjunctive,  in- 
serted     181 

Oversight,    no 236 

Parity 289,    331 

Past,    the 160 

Perjury    165 

Petitio    principii 137 

Places,  three  possible  for  tender. 211 
Plaintiff    endowed    with    attribute 

of   sovereignty 97 

Platform,   political 342 

Platform    perverted 342 

Platform,  silver,  gold  man   on   it. 343 

Plutocracy    232 

Points,    five    yielded 302 

Poison,  secret 329 

Poor,   the 333 

Pinckney,   Charles,   draft  of   Fed- 
eral   government 179 

Poor,   savings  of  the 224,  231 

Post    hoc    ergo    propter    hoe 317 

Potato  money    95 


362 


Index 


PAGE 

Poverty,    danger    of 221 

Power,    arbitrary,    taste    of 269 

Power,     a     governmental,     not     a 

corporate    286 

Power,    legitimate 288 

Power,  most  tremendous 320 

Power,    no    limit    of 220 

Power,  not  safe,  for  banks 286 

Powers,  paying,  scarce  to-day.  .  .  .224 

Power,    purchasing ..217 

Power,    safe 1 89 

Power,    usurped 288 

Prayer  for  prosperity 324 

Prayer,    wise 234 

Prejudice,    mountain   of 82 

Present,  the 160 

President,   revisory   power   of....  161 
"  Presidential  "-senatorial   money  188 

Principiis  obsta 270 

Principle     349 

Product  of   our  own   country ...  .269 
Production,   over-,   satis-,    under-. 222 

Proportion    71 

Prometheus,    charge    against 151 

Prosecuting   officers,    God's 320 

Prosperity,   cause   of 309 

Prosperity,    from    famine 315 

Prosperity,   unjust 265 

Prosperity,   year   of 306 

Protection  due  from  government. 263 
Protection     to     American     indus- 
tries     268 

Protection,    worthy    of 276 

"  Proves    too    much  " 1 63 

Provisions       and       their       history 

should    have   been    read ..300 

Public    sentiment,    manufactories 

of    327 

Purse,  power  of 198 

Puzzle,    modern 188 

Puzzle,    scholastic 188 

Quantitative    theory 101 

Question    answered 236 

Question    stated 1 83,    236 

Rage   of    Gold    Solomons 3-'8 

Randolph,    Edmund,    his    proposi- 
tion     '79 

Ratio,     ISJ4     to     1 343 

Ratio,    16   to    1 343 

Ratio,    variations   of,    small ,-,336 

"  Raw    head    and    bloody   bones  " 

silver    344 

Real     and    apparent     measure    of 

value,    difference    between 290 

Real  measure  of  value 86,  204 

Reason,    the    true 332 

Reasons,    three 256 

Receipts,     warehouse 293 

Redeeming  money   with   money.  . 

204,   334 

Redeemer   redeemed  ! 235 

Reed,  Thomas   B 45.  82 

Regulating     relations     of     debtor 

and    creditor 251 

Remembrance,   suitable 323 

Remembrance    300 

Regulating  value  of  coins 215 


PAGE 

Remedy. 60,  62,  64,  200,  202,  271,  319 
Remonetizing  silver   will   produce 

_,  Parity     342 

Reputation 308,    349 

Repetition,  some 348 

Representatives   of  money 223 

Republican   convention 307 

Reserve    204 

Reserved    powers 158 

Resources    great,    may    fail    some 

day    282 

Resources  of  the  country 310 

Restoring   silver 253,    353 

Resurrection   glorious 321 

Right   and   might 234 

"  Road  "    45,   82 

Rob  for  its  own  benefit 263 

Robbery    327 

Rolls,    the    two 324 

Rothschild,   his  proposition 311 

Rothschild,   his  prediction 311 

Royal   metals 55,   275 

Royal  metals,  once  coined  and 
put  in  circulation  become  pri- 
vate   property 276 

"  Rum,  Romanism,  and  Rebel- 
lion "     248 

Sane  thinking  and  sane  speaking  261 

Saxons,  prayer  of 183 

Science     96 

Scarcity,    disparity    and 340 

Scarcity   produces   importation.  .  .336 

Seat  of  coining  power 212 

Seat,      true     of     money-declaring 

power     212 

Second   point    false  or  meaningless   50 
Secretary    of  the  treasury   of   the 
United   States  and  the  banks.. 204 

Section  of  green  pea 257 

Securities  of  the  United  States..  192 

Seigniorage     274 

Senate    1 60 

Sense,  moral ..107 

Sentiment,  mere,  should  not  in- 
fluence      202 

Septad     57 

Shams,   abolish   the 205 

Shams,    strike    out 306 

Shaw,    Secretary 295 

Sherman  law,  repeal  of  purchas- 
ing clause  of 311,  315 

Shield,    Constitution    the 223 

Shipments   of   bullion 335 

Shipments  of  coin 33  5 

Sign  and  token 226 

Silver      and      gold      created      for 

monev    257 

Silver    bulky 272 

Silver,   cartloads  of 272 

"Silver,    dead,    dead,    dead  "....268 

Silver    demonetized 33° 

Silver  dollar,   soon  no  one  would 

take     the 334 

"  Silver    kings" 267 

Silver    not    money 223 

Silver   struck  down   in    1873 216 

Silver   the   standard    in    1792.... 215 


Index 


363 


PAGE 

Silver,  that  fell  from  natural 
causes,  plausible  with  admis- 
sions, but  with  the  truth,  error 

apparent    •  •  3°4 

Six    hundred    million     dollars    in 

gold     344 

Slavery      254 

Slavery,    chattel,    gone 209 

Slogan,    the    deserter's.... 349 

Smith,   Adam,   his   confession....    46 

"  Solar    plexus  " 209 

Solution    of    debts    between    man 

and    man 252 

Sons  and  daughters  of  toil 245 

Sovereignty    6 1 

Special   medium   of  exchange.  ...  129 

Speech,  five  minutes' 299 

Spirit    of    '76 322 

"  Stag,  heart  of  " 261 

Staleness    337 

Standard    of    comparison 34 

Standard    of    deferred    payments 

35.     132 

Standard    Dictionary 66,    226 

Standard     dollar 60 

Staple     money 97 

Staples,    twelve 9- 

"  Star-dust  "     125 

Statement    in    detail 260 

Statistician     3°6 

Statute   of    1792 241 

Statute    of    demonetization 320 

Stepping-stone,   if   only,   deserved 

defeat     321 

"  Still  not  enough,"  is  for  argu- 
ment      304 

Storehouse  for  value 41,   133 

Storehouse  and  things  stored. 35,  262 

Strange    contradiction 270 

Strange     proposition 89 

Strength   of   case,   presenting.  ..  .320 

Sublime     language 76 

Substitute    for    money,    no    such 

thing    as 59,    90,    223 

Suit 59 

"  Sun    do    move  " 279 

Superstition,   political 149,    162 

Supplies  during  the  war 203 

Supply   and   demand 107 

Supply     and     demand,     law     of, 

applicable   to   money 270 

Supply,  inadequate,  makes  money 

dear     265. 

Supplying     deficiency     no     moral 

wrong     265 

Supposititious   case 242,   326 

"  Supreme        Court        certificate  " 

head     295 

Surgeon,    charge    against 291 

Surplus,  no,  of  money 267 

Sword,   power  of 199 

Symbol      ......150 

Tariff,    alleged    cause   of   crisis   of 

1893     3ii.    315 

Tariff    laws 138 

Tautology     276 


PAGE 

Taxing    power 203 

Taxing     274 

Ten    commandments 187 

Tendency,   no,   to   include 186 

Tender 54.    141,    173,    180,    277 

Tender,    absolute    necessity    for..    88 
Tender,    commonly    called    "  legal 

tender  "      56 

Tender'  in     colonies 175 

Tender,     gold     and     silver     coin 

made 181,    212 

Tender,   no   string 271 

Ten  per  cent  of  fractional  silver, 

not    money 226 

Theory,    the    American,    of    gov- 
ernment      1 56 

Thesis      174 

Third  point  included  in  second..    50 

Thirty    Years'    War,   The 54 

Thread,     golden no 

Three-cent    piece    of    silver 195 

Three  per   cent   over  gold 305 

Three    points    gone,     and     not    a 

step    made 52 

Tide,    oncoming 221 

Times,    commentary    on 65 

Times,    bad 317 

Times,     good 317 

Times,    history    of 191 

Times,     temper     of,     unfavorable 

to  calm  investigation.  ...  196,  208 
Tinker  and  tinker  and  tinker... 287 
Tokens,    Congress    has    no    power 

to    coin 226 

Token,  what  is  a 226 

Too  general 84,   288 

Too   long   in  coming 309 

Too  small 226,  257 

Too    trivial 24S 

Tort     64 

Trap,    legislative 231 

Treason  and  its  punishment 198 

Treatment,    confusing    and    dark- 
ening      293 

Treaty-making    power 187 

Triad     57 

Trial    by    jury    gone 96 

True    measure    of    value 115 

Truth   shown,   no   danger 304 

Truth    shown,    position    won 304 

Transactions,   large,   gold   for.... 271 
Transactions,       silver       somewhat 

suited     for 271 

Transactions,      small,      gold      un- 

suited    for 271 

Transactions,  small,  silver   for... 271 

Typical    case 122 

Tyranny    and    liberty 3  54 

Tyranny,    to    congressional,    from 

constitutional   government....    300 
Tyranny,     congressional     and     ju- 
dicial,   enthroned 187,    205 

Tyranny,    spirit    of 328 

Tyrants,    method    of 284 

Uncle   Sam's  estate 317 

Unconstitutional,     withal 269 

"  Uncover  eyes  " 81,   229 


3^4 


Index 


PAGE 

Uniformity   in   coins 351 

Uniformity  in  weights  and  meas- 
ures     352 

Uninformed,    the 333 

United  States  demonetized  and 
the  United  States  can  re- 
monetize    305 

United   States  demonetized  silver 

in    1873     305 

Unit,   the 57 

Universal    medium    of    exchange   129 

"  Universe  "    125 

"  Unstop    ears  " 81 

Untruthful,  shades  of  the 335 

Unvailing     211 

Unwary,  the  trap   for 231,   333 

Usurpation     enthroned 188 

Usurpation,   no,   in    1792 242 

"  Vailed  "    211 

Vagueness     illustrated 237 

Valuable  thing,  the  most 277 

Value,    additional 244 

Valueless      thing,       a,      can      be 

storer? 135.   244-   277 

Valueless    thing    made    money ..  .346 

Value,    intrinsic,    no 345 

Value  legislated  out  of  lands.... 263 
Value  legislated  out  of  money.. 263 
Value    legislated    out    of   personal 

property     ;  •  263 

Value,   measure   of,   has   value  in 

itself     :    262 

Value,     storer    of,    has     value    in 

itself     262 

"  Veto  "    power 161 

Views,    the    usual    fallacious    and 

faulty    285 

Volcano,    financial 295 

"  Wagon  " 45.    83 


PAGE 

Wanted    in    West 308 

War      and      peace,      Constitution  ■ 

same    in 198 

Ward,    Artemus 164 

War,  times  of  prosperity 138 

•  Ways,  three   274 

Ways,    two 274 

Wealth,     danger     of 222 

Webster,    Daniel 248 

West,   the   benighted 81,   82 

What  will  not  pay  debts  will  not 
be  taken  in  payment  of  debts. 333 

Wheat    338 

Wheat,    legislated    down    without 

necessity    therefor 266 

Wheat    money 91 

Whence   and    how? 52 

Whisky,    license    to    manufacture, 

sell     185 

Wicked    266 

Wisdom     160 

Wisely   provided   for 271 

Witenagemote     117 

Woman    100 

Words,    plain .  302 

Words   show    crudeness   and   mis- 
understanding     282 

Workmanship   main    thing 254 

World    made    wrong 126 

Worst   definition   ever   made 51 

Wounds    211 

Wrong     227 

Wrong,  moral,  of  government  to 
silver     owners     not     to     silver 

itself     266 

Wrong,   moral 107,    108,   279 

Yardstick.  .  .101,    104,    108,    112,   243 

Yardstick   and    payment 262 

Zero,  the  money  value  of  silver  is  233 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

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